Just questions on an age-old issue!

In this delusional myth making about how 30s are the new 20s 40s the new 30s and so on I feel for 10yearolds who must now return to their wombs That said is there such a thing as how old you feel in your head even if the body doesnrsquot physically match up to the mental speedagilityAnd just as you strictly identify yourself with any pronoun you likemdashheshe herhim an object or animalmdashcan we similarly declare ourselves publicly for whatever age we wish to feelWhat would you prefer to bemdash40s forever when knowing more about life brings with it an equally strange realisation of how little you do Or about half that age when you often sense superiority towards the world because you simply donrsquot know betterAre you outwardly just a FOMOsexual perennially living with the fear of missing out whorsquos moved on from for a smiley in WhatsApp signlanguagemdashchoosing from a wide palette of emojis instead or conversing in GIFs altogetherIs the actual 5G vocabulary expanding likewise So you know what lsquocheugyrsquo meansmdashGenZ for someone out of date but trying too hard Its ancient synonym is lsquoankalrsquo probablymdashthe uncomfortable aspect of a generation gap being someone desperately trying to bridge it basically Do you pick up the latest music only to namedrop and feel like you always belong Or is that retro playlist just fine too for contentmentconfidence periodAge is a tricky thing no Of course itrsquos not just a number Perspectives on such matters change with gender too Foremost I guess it depends on what you lookfeel like to those aroundmdashthe appearance as it were Surely there is first the luck of the genetic drawmdashstarting with the head if there is a thick mop or the hair receding into a map of twin islands and thinly connecting bridges But being bald is absolutely cool tooThe lines on your face maybe tell a fuller storymdashof what all yoursquove been through or where you are in the present Stage more so suggesting age sometimes much youngerolder than you visibly aremdashwhether married multiple times or devotedly dealing with neverending lists of debtsdependents or wholly single or lifelong DINKS double income no kidshellipHardly two people at a school reunion seem from that same class anymore They also think differently about agemdashperhaps their profession too determines some of that innate sense of time You professionally peak at 70 in Indian politics and classical music for instance And you couldrsquove spent half your life retired from a primary passion by then if a sportsperson insteadWriter Javed Akhtar once told me he just thinks people in the artsentertainment age better in general As against those with more repetitive vocations There is obviously the upgraded science behind dietfitness access to weatherdefying comforts and leisure to automatically reverse some inherent ageing You only have to look at old family albums to tell how we appear better than equivalent ancestors Either way authors of the bestseller on ageing Ikigai researched Japanrsquos inordinate number of centurions to report that really itrsquos our immersive physical and mental engagement with stuff that we create or enjoy that keeps us ticking that explains a healthysatisfying life As opposed to a consequent long life alone in their caseAs it is nobody knows how long theyrsquore going to livemdashthe variables often being beyond human control How then did we arrive at 40s as midlife Should age then not be guided by how many years we have left after a pointmdashrather than how old we are To be able to tell how much to save live it up or give awayOf course I mean midlife in the context of the glass being half full and half empty Whether expressed as a sign of maturity finding oneself finally or lsquomidlife crisisrsquomdashthat you relook at all previous presumptions about career family friends to the red Ferrari Did Indians call 40s midlife when the average person popped it at 32 being the life expectancy in 1947I ask this surrounded by friends given my own vintage celebrating their big FourO birthdays withinoutside the city one after another Perhaps treated by guests as the end of the hostrsquos final lap of youth as against lsquocoming of agersquo that has multiple denominations 16 18 21 25 even 30 Is 40th that last big one you announce then The 30th anyway is the end of 20s when yoursquove only about graduated from Old Monk and McDonaldrsquos for a celebrationI ask around why I donrsquot similarly hear of huge 50th and 60th birthdays displayed with greater scalegrandnessfervour No answer Is that nothing to be as gungho about Do we fear irrelevanceobsolescence after a point although we share the planet occupying equal space with the young while alive regardless No answer yetHerersquos what I donrsquot get about age the most though Those who sheepishlyendlessly complain about how old they aremdashand it doesnrsquot matter how old they actually are Well the other option was you were dead no Whatrsquos the complaint Okay just invite me to your 50th or 60th seriously waitingMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper