How is it that when we were young, it was crisply clear what age we were turning but now it’s a maths question? Whenever someone asks me my age these days, I’m either freezing up to do a quick mental maths or scrambling for my phone to ping my sister so I can do a quick deduction to her years and know mine.
What is it about age that has people getting upset? - I honestly, for the life of me, don't feel a difference in me from my 20s to now. Yes, I just confessed I'm not a 20 something and couldn't care less. The only time it hits me that I’m a certified adult is when kids around me call me “aunty” and then it’s me bursting into peals of laughter and let me tell you, there is most definitely a laughter recovery time!
As kids, birthdays were all about creeping excitedly to adulthood, shopping for new clothes, being handed gifts and stuffing our faces with the special treats and cakes. Now? - well now they are a more mellow affair and come to think of it, I think I like the mellow celebrations better! Kick back and chill with people you actually want to see, receive meaningful gifts which I would actually put to a good use or which tug my heart strings just by looking at them. Even the clothes shopping is now more of an experience - looking at the fabric, knowing my colours and opening my wallet to only those pieces that I desperately want.
So while the years are passing and numbers are adding up, I think life is getting more enriched. Now, I choose how my day and life progresses. I choose with whom it progresses - and by some miracle they want to live these times with me too!
So maybe now it’s not about creeping into adulthood but about appreciating the beautiful warm circle of people and experiences I have chosen to surround myself with, the way I want to spend my time and most importantly, the way I want to stock my closet - and that’s not something you can measure in a number of years. So it’s good if you can't remember your age, because you are not ageing - you are growing.
Featured illustration:
- Banner (L to R) Handwoven linen saree:
- Bottom: Handwoven cotton kantha saree: Midnight Galaxy