Age is catching up?

I completed 39 years on this beautiful planet of ours on my last birthday. I still feel quite young even though my reflexes have slowed down considerably and I start panting after the fourth floor! Many people have told me how 'Young' I look. It is quite flattering when you are aware of the fact that 'Age is catching up'.

Age indeed is catching up. I can't relate to quite a lot of what goes in the name of music today. I don't understand the lingo of the teens of the day. I am forgetting lines from some of my favorite songs of Mukesh, Rafi and Kishore and have to resort to humming in between. I used to laugh at my Mother a few years ago about how she was forgetting songs. The boot is on the wrong foot today!

But after all these tell-tale evidences; I still feel I am quite young, Thanks to the 'Genes'. Yes, my Father is 75 and Mother is 62 and they had serious problems to pass of as Senior Citizens during Train Travel. After one or two occasions when the TTEs doubted them, they are forced to carry their Voter ID Cards! And the best thing is; neither of them uses Santoor Soap!

I had given up wearing Jeans after my daughter was born and also settled down to a short haircut. But about three years ago, when she saw me sporting long hair in an old photograph; she instantly wanted me to grow long hair. I also realized at some point that I had to live for myself too. At 32, I grew a mustache to look mature because people thought I looked immature without one. I was trying to cultivate an image of a Doctor. This was for a short period when I wanted to improve my practice. Putting in too many hours of work, trying too hard to 'Look like a Doctor' had really taken a toll on me during this period. I wasn't enjoying life and I wasn't 'Me'. I was living like someone else! This wasn't 'Me' at all.

Thank God the reality dawned upon me soon enough. I thank my little Princess for that. Today I am in Jeans and Tee shirts most of the time away from hospital. I take a brake every three months and I feel 'Young' again! I very much understand the eternal truth that "Time and Tide wait for None". Whatever we do, we have to get old and die some day. When people say "You don't look your age"; very often they probably mean "You are OLD enough, behave your age at least now". Nobody ever tells a twenty year old "You don't look your age".

So am I ready to behave my age now? Well, I don't know how to behave my age because my earlier attempt at that was a colossal flop. Hence I have decided to let my body age gracefully and not to use artificial methods to look 'Young'. But keep the 'Mind' young without being childish! For all we know, we only live once. There is enough time to be dead. So enjoy life today. Live, Love and Laugh... Hope my 'Genes' will help me to carry off Tees and 'Jeans' for as long as I live!