The 35th year school reunion is coming up (ya, I know, I don’t look it, thanks!) so I reached out to an old class mate to see if she was planning to go. She’s a maybe because her daughter is getting married. I couldn’t resist the MIL exclamations and jokes especially since she’s drop dead gorgeous and will make one sexy mother-in-law. Before long we were commenting on how we can’t believe we’ve reached that stage, age and then she said …50 is the new 35.
Bas, my monkey mind started chirping very loudly.
How often do we hear that 40 is the new 30 and 50 is the new 40 and ....what complete and utter nonsensical rubbish!!! Because, if this is really true, I'm an early menopaused, body creaking 42 year old (instead of an energetic 52).
I'm writing this as I try to recover from having spent last three days playing golf and attending dinner parties. Ya, sure, that's a luxury. I really shouldn't be complaining, and I'm not. I am simply "commenting" on the stupid concept that is constantly being stuffed down our throats(filled into our ears, same-same)!!!
And also because, my arthritic toe, pinched shoulder and menopaused reproductive system clearly whisper other things into my ear and you can say one can't bow down to one's body or all those philosophical things but the damn truth is that it just isn't the same, 40 feels like 40, 50 feels like 50 and 60 will probably feel like 60 too.
Abh, it's not only the aching body na. I started Kathak 2 years ago (a detailed one on that soon) and it took my brain 3 months to teach my body a simple namaskar despite the fact that Shreya, my wonderful teacher, had broken it up into tiny pieces and patiently made me practice it a million times, ok 100 but it felt like a million! No, it isn't because I have 2 left feet. I'm sure that a decade ago, it would have taken me 3 wks while it took my beautiful niece only 13 minutes.
The person who came up with these ridiculous phrases was probably a 25 year old copywriter given the task of selling “30 plus capsules*” to a bunch of 50 year olds with not the faintest idea of what it means to get older.( Do you think it was the guy who tried convincing us that 50 year old Jeetendra* was "only 30 plus"?! )
Honestly, phrases like this seem silly because it hinders more than encourages people to accept the aging process. I'm sure this and the "you look so young" concept helps the pharma companies sell vitamins, cosmetic companies sell creams and health companies sell their drinks but aging is a fact of life. You can't make it go away or help smoothen the path by phrases which constantly remind you that it would be better to be younger. It adds to the stress and I'm not surprised that cosmetic/corrective surgery is on the rise.
I don’t know about you but I for one would rather hear how at 52 I can do anything I want to do because I have the time (empty nesters are basically vella), with a comfortable income, the desire to learn and explore, and the courage to start new ventures (another blog on this coming soon) within the physical and mental capabilities of a 52 year old. Simply put, I don't have the physical energy or the mental agility of a 40 or 30 year old and that's ok!
And anyway, if I really take this phrase to be the gospel truth, and if I were to die at 80 (I don't plan to, have to beat Grandfather's record of 96) which is the new 65 then it will mean that I died so young!!!! Ha ha ha ....
*30 plus – multivitamins/energy tablets advertised in India in the 90s
*Jeetendra – a very popular Hindi film star who looked very young