Life @ 30

Youth is arrogant and a little wistful. When you are young you feel like you will never get old. ‘Old’ is something that happens to the other people. You laugh at the age miracle cream ads, flip through the ‘younger looking hairstyles’ articles and ignore the well meaning advice of elders to not wear heels as later it will affect your back.
However when you start approaching the big 3 O, your perception changes dramatically. Your see these changes slowly as the colony kids start calling you ‘aunty’ instead of the usual ‘didi’, as you slowly start using the phrase, ‘the new generation’ and as you notice your first grey hair.
Suddenly the age miracle cream ads make a lot of sense and you watch them carefully to see which one will actually deliver what it promises - your lost youth. You insist that your hairstylist look at something which covers the grey and make you look ‘younger’ and you curse all the high heels you wore that has now given you the perpetual backache and
When I reached this milestone in my life I suffered from all the above symptoms. Also there were a few additional side-effects such as the husband’s callous comments like – “Are you wearing that? Isn’t it a little too young for you?” or a friendly advice like “why don’t you check out the new concealor in the market.”
I started identifying with phrases such as ‘over the hill’ and ‘downhill from now on’. But I decided to look at the brighter side. I thought – No more acnes or pimples, or worrying about the latest college fashions, no more heartbreaks and teary eyed nights, no more crazy impulses to get a tattoo done. The initial days of struggle to settle and find a suitable job and then a suitable boy (in that order) are finally over. There are no more early morning colleges, lectures or assignments. Of course they have been replaced with the early morning office, meetings and late night presentations.
After all I was now a sensible adult who had learnt from her life’s mistakes (quite a few of those actually). Things could only get better I thought positively as I looked at the slight thickening of my waistline. After all how many glossy lifestyle magazines claimed that ‘life begins at 30’. So what if the main source of revenue of these magazines are the make up giants who promise to erase the tell-tale wrinkle signs from your face. There are many pluses of growing old. As the saying goes, you become wiser with the age. And also you finally stop caring so much about the calories and start piling on the pastries (of course this differs on a case to case basis). Your spending on shoes go done considerably (remember the heels issue) and you can look at the younger generation with a superior smirk.
So I am going to advocate the phrase ‘Life begins at 30’..... Till I reach 40.