Indians hold the utmost respect for, and kinship towards, their families. This closeness plays out particularly in language. For instance, in Bengali they refer to their Uncles with different terms depending on whether they are related to their mother or father.
These close familial bonds branch into other relationships as well. They (and me too now!) refer to respected, non-family elders as Uncle and Auntie. As a friendly term, they refer to friends and acquaintances as Brother and Sister. To give an example, when riding in a taxi we called our driver "da da" (pronounced daw-daw) which means Brother. I love the closeness these terms foster in all interactions.
These close familial bonds branch into other relationships as well. They (and me too now!) refer to respected, non-family elders as Uncle and Auntie. As a friendly term, they refer to friends and acquaintances as Brother and Sister. To give an example, when riding in a taxi we called our driver "da da" (pronounced daw-daw) which means Brother. I love the closeness these terms foster in all interactions.
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