Umran lagiya

As a child I used to love asking people slightly offbeat 'favourite' questions; for example 'What is your favourite age'? or 'When would you have liked to lived the most, a million years ago or now or a hundred years later?' My own stock favourite 'ages' were 9, 21 and 36. 9 because I had a great time at my birthday party that year and discovered a much bigger wonderful new world of books than I had known till then, 21 because it seemed very grown up (and the Ponds soap lady was always advertised as '21' in a whooshy voice on DD), and 36 because that is as far as my imagination went towards representing 'old'! :) In the way that random stimuli have of invoking memories, the recent and beautiful Coke studio song 'Umran lagiya' struck an instant chord of nostalgia in me, and with it the realisation that 36 is now a lot closer than 21 or 9 :)

A random google search indicates that turning 30 and beyond is pretty much the end..which means we can be as liberated as Nearly Headless Nick (though less gloomy) because who cares what ghosts do anyway. Why is 30 so shunned though? 40, 50 or even 60 seem to get off relatively lightly. Even on the purely cosmetic level advertised through countless movies and movie stars, the impression seems to be one day young slim lovely enthusiastic 29 and next day old bent slouching bleary eyed 30 :P No wonder so much advertising urges people to 'regain your twenties', nobody wants to be a sort of Ms Trunchbull meets Meena Kumari late period.

From the old school point of view, most people have their versions of 'kapda gaadi makaan' or at least live under the roof of a house rather than a hostel by the time they re 30..which seems to chalk up a point for the thirties. Whatever tensions were associated with the peak of studying, finding jobs, sorting people you liked and those you thought you did but didn't actually and all other complicated factors seem to be largely associated with the twenties, again a plus for the thirties! One poor downer for the thirties is the apparent realisation that your 'biological clock' (one of the most abused terms in biology as well as the english language) is 'ticking'. This generally means that in the next few years your skin will turn to leather (not if you use various lotions), hair fall off (not if you go to Dr Batra's clinic), all chances of your DNA being represented in future generations is out (lots of not ifs) plus you better get used to being called 'aunty or 'uncle'..no options here. Hmm.

These not so scary scenarios apart, I feel like going back to the old calculation for favourite ages..I think its going to be 9, 33 and 42, that way I have two to sample still and I act contrary to current paranoia, always a temptation :P


And so to all, while 'Umran lagiya pabban pa' (Ages have passed while I stand on tiptoe), enjoy your forties! :)