Sigh! One lazy Sunday afternoon in Kolkatta when my then roomie and I were watching some flick, there came the ad of Ponds age defying lotion. She mentioned, once we are 30, if we start on with these lotions, we will ward off the fine lines for sometime. That time, the time when I would need to apply those cream seemed very far away. Now I have crossed that threshold (ok no one needs to go on a frenzy about my age). I did not heed much to having been over the proverbial 'middle-age' mark. I have seen characters in television shows make much hullabaloo about reaching the said age. I Had colleagues who took vacations to mark their all important birthday. Somehow the specialty of the number never hit me. It was but another number.
Around my work place people discuss age very openly. There is nothing to hide, but I feel back home in India there are more pressing matters to discuss like finance or palak paneer recipe rather than age or weather(I am just being sarcastic, no offense :D) I took a while to get used to it. I don't lie about my age(there is nothing to, and I adhere to the fact that if you don't lie you don't need to remember a thing. I have bad memory which is a different realm of discussion altogether. I would not want to remember which age I told whom :) ) But I was really amazed at how much age mattered to people. They wished to look younger for ever.
Again in this area I am a very bad judge. Most people seem to be in a certain bracket to me;20-30, 30-40 and so on. But in the bracket if someone is on the very high side say 38, while I thought them to be 30-40, I think they look uber young. I marvel at the way they have 'maintained ' themselves. I wish I looked half as good as they did when I reach that age . When people hear my age and sometimes say oh you are so young I wonder if they thought me to be 99 and I turned lesser or it's in the sense that I am younger than them. I for sometime feel as if I am a part of their circle any more or not? There are other tines when groups of people make fun of youngsters aka graduate recruits. I join in the fun talk, but then I don't see a lot of difference by virtue of age. I feel they look lost because they are new and not because they are younger.
What is the big deal with age ? You look as young or old as you feel you are isn't it? By those standards I am not a day older than 22 :) My mom says if you have an erect back and smile on your face rather than a frown you look young. I feel missing a double chin(which I am definitely sporting now :'( ) is the trick to looking young . In this age if beauty consciousness is there ever a real appreciation of the wisdom that gathers with age? Say the maturity in forgiving people or being more empathetic ? Or are they signs of being 'old'. I think that truly is 'middle age' where one searches for the real age bracket one belongs to. Too old to be the young blood. Too young to be the veteran. Just stuck in the middle :(
I remember a stand up show in which the comedian remarked, it's either the very young or the very old who are truly proud of their age. You will hear 'I am TEN' with a lot of pride , or 'I am SIXTY SIX' with a lot of enthusiasm . The 'mid ages ' are just murmured . I must say there is some truth in that . Till I reach the age where age does not matter to me, let me go ahead and buy the next age defying lotion :P
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