Hygge or Adda: The Amiable Intruder
Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The cat screamed arrogantly as a long, leafy branch fell near its nose. It perhaps got the swish of the leaves, but it didn’t get hurt; it was startled, terrifyingly. It moved from that place pretty quickly and entered our garage. It probably hoped to get a good, peaceful sleep under any car. After looking at nature’s quick comic snap, I stretched my legs on the sofa. I picked up the newspaper and flipped those long pages with some yawning pauses. Seasonal outfits, numerological advice, and some festive season advertisements filled the pages. On the next page, I saw a feature on ‘hygge’. I knew about this word and assumed that this one would be very much ‘Pinterestic’. It was a kind of book review but no ratings were mentioned. I read the first stanza. It told about the meaning then went on with some Danish statistics. They printed a beautiful photograph of a ‘cozy home’ and also a chart of ‘hygge essentials’ then continued the review. One part was interesting; it said, “Hygge promotes egalitarianism.” Then another one said, “Hygge encourages to be the authentic you.”
After finishing the article, I searched ‘hygge and egalitarianism’. Most of the search results pointed to the Danish attribute of keeping the flow of non-materialistic wellbeing. Here the hygge setups glow up the value of togetherness—a temporary shelter that could be created on a daily basis. I stopped for a moment. I needed the time for self-reflection. Do I lack something to create that shelter? Or maybe we create something like this but quite unconsciously?
After a short online trip to Denmark, I just stopped by our place, Calcutta. Any Calcuttans, including me, could easily claim the characteristics of hygge to be identical with our own ‘golpokora’ or even with a little slang expression ‘adda’. We pretty much merge hygge with tea and laughter. Probably, we do not have a book of it. But we have that in each corner of our place.
If we call it hygge or adda, one thing that we all potentially try to create is contentment with the value of authenticity. When I read and saw some content on hygge, I really felt that it hugs happiness. And here in adda, it gives a dabbing to laughter. Both create the same value. I am pretty sure that in every region there must be a ritualistic commonality to uplift the sense of togetherness; we just call them by different names. The best part comes with authenticity and non-materialistic coexistence. When we laugh, we do not impose our mind on that never-ending monetary calculation; we laugh with our authentic selves; here we do not pretend.
Hygge and adda—both value the originality; both value the feelings. To be a part of that value we must learn to accept our authentic selves. And it’s a process. It’s a task of reflection. What we like and what we are bound to like—we need to figure that out. We must have a chart to identify what brings out the best in us and where we do not get uncomfortable. If we stay alert then hygge lifestyle or adda ambience can find that corner of our originality to push that into the center stage because we find the shelter to accept who we are. Basically, they are the amiable intruders who playfully catch the originality in us. We need to allow that to realize our own true sense of originality. I call that realisation Ina*. When we bring out that originality, we find what we like. That contentment cannot be dribbled. It stays.
(*In Sanskrit, Ina (इन).—a. means determined or anything that is powerful.)