Remember the time when we were kids? Every birthday used to be so special. It would be a much awaited event and the countdown would begin months in advance. As a child, I was particularly fond of red colour, so on every birthday, year after year, all I wanted to wear on my special occasion was, a red frilly frock.
The guest list would be drafted and the invitees would depend upon my mood as to who had been good to me through the year and who'd been mean. The menu, the games and the distribution of sweets in school, it was all much looked forward to and why not? It used to be the most special day.
That day when people asked me how old I had turned, I would be delighted to announce that I'd turned a year older, my head held high and my entire being swelling with pride on climbing one more number on the age step ladder!
Things have changed now. Though I'm still proud of my growing age yet the thing that's vanished is the enthusiasm. I don't quite relate to it anymore. Of course, it still makes me happy when friends and family from far and near give me a phone call but yeah, that sheen of childhood is not there. Somehow down the years, we become subdued beings.
I've totally accepted the fact that I'm growing older and wiser ;-)
At the same time, I have seen a lot many women quite hesitant to reveal their age and I fail to completely understand why! Is it that they don't want to be labelled as OLD, is it that they don't want to appear charmless, or is there some completely hidden reason which I am unable to figure out?
Few days ago, a show on TV caught my fancy! My son told me about a show wherein, the lead was a 40 year old woman, recently divorced and absolutely broke. She has a daughter who is studying in another country. Since the woman is in dire need of money, she goes on to apply for a job at various places and is turned down because of her advanced age. She has the qualification and the zeal to work yet she fails to procure a job and that's just because she is 40! While sitting in a bar and sulking about this fact, she meets a guy in his twenties who seems to be taken by her charm. When she tries to thwart his advances by telling him that he's way too young for her, he states that he's in his twenties and that she could be just a year or two here and there.
This statement amuses the woman's friend who overhears the conversation and advises this woman to actually rework a little on her hair and wardrobe and pretend to be 20! She reluctantly agrees and voila! It just works for her. She immediately gets a job and a set of young friends, all in their twenties. Basically, her life takes off and she's able to rediscover herself and be happier as her financial woes are over.
So though I haven't watched the show further to know whether she's able to successfully manage or her cover gets blown, yet the concept of the show made me opine that age perhaps is not just a number. The society completely turns away from older women and in a bid to save their career they might have to be hesitant about mentioning their age.
Therefore, the next time, I meet someone who doesn't want to reveal her age, maybe I can keep aside the famous saying, 'What's in the age? It's just a number.' Well....IS IT???
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