If you are in second half of your third decade, the age jokes pile on real thick! If you have noticed, I haven’t indicated how much into the second half of the third decade I am tip-toeing into. And if I have everyone confused on the decade and which half -then HA! I have succeeded! But getting back to those lame jokes that the ‘twenty somethings’ wish you via sms - I would like to wish them all that ‘your time shall come too’! And oh yes, don’t even get me started on the ‘Age is only a number’ quote! Seriously! And oh the very oft used ‘ Age is in the mind’. My age is etched in my mind and I would so like it to do an automatic subtraction and go back by..umm..half a decade!
Why? Really, why? I never thought I would get to a stage where I would consider age as a factor which identifies me as a person or precedes my personality. I never thought it would get into a room before I did. I have heard of ‘Age before beauty’ and all that. But this is just a bit much! Now the music that I like and grew up with is either ‘retro’ or ‘classic’. The actors that adorned the walls of my room are either dead or promoting their childrens’ movies. Of course you have Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep looking younger than me, which really doesn’t help at all! Ok, so I haven’t, yet, reached the stage of ‘counting-the-crows-feet-around-my-eyes’ part. But recently I had my son and daughter competing as to who has plucked the most number of white hair from mommy’s head. Psycho couch here I come! Or rather L’oreal is looking ’ O real’.
But with age comes a certain wisdom and I don’t say that ‘just only’, but truly mean it. It has taught me to be more accommodating in certain ways. It has also made me feel less inhibited, I say what I want to say and not just think of what I’d like to say. Age gives you a certain amount of freedom. You are finally only answerable to yourself. No more asking mommy or daddy's permission. Of course these days I tend to ask my son and daughter their permission, but that is a whole different level of dysfunctionalism! And luckily I am still part of that generation that truly believes that patience is a virtue. In this jet-set age, everyone is expecting instant success, instant happiness. Like going to an ATM of love, luck and happiness and withdrawing the right amounts of each. I still, thankfully, remember those days when we had to take tokens and wait our turn at a bank. Then hope that the cashier, with whom you are on a first name basis, counts the right amount of hundreds and while they do, don’t give you advice on marriage, work or savings! Patience works. Always.
Those were the times that we could actually disappear. No mobile phones to follow you, no GPS, no laptop to tie you down. You could actually be ‘out of reach’. When we could watch movies without ‘sushing’ someone talking on a mobile or check for an sms in the middle of a scene, just to know if you missed something more important. The days of watching Doordarshan. Somehow that one channel brought so much of happiness and wonder. My children have a zillion channels to choose from and they are still bored! Or curling up in a corner with a book and only my imagination giving the words a wing to fly on. How does a book hold against the latest 3-D video game? How can you teach a child to imagine when they are already seeing more than they can imagine?
So to all you young things out there, I say this: I am glad to be where I am. I am glad I have seen technology being invented and not being invented by technology. I am glad that I can reminisce about times that were simpler. And yes, with time we get older. Fact. It is still really up to the individual on how to age. I believe and always will, that nothing should limit you from being what you are and achieving what you have to. And no matter how long you have lived on this blue planet, not to get cynical and jaded. But still view life with wondrous eyes .So cheers to all my friends out there sharing the third decade with me. We were the’ wild gen’ once and I think forever will be! Booyah!
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