When the official mid-life mark — turning 50 years old — approaches, it signifies a vague miscellany. In my personal space, it signalled a readiness for a calcium prescription, reading glasses and a savvier handling of savings. It was also a time for a strange recollection of known, but unrelated people born five decades ago — weightlifter Kunjarani Devi, jailed gangster Abu Salem, Hollywood wonder Will Smith, Munnabhai-starrer Arshad Warsi, and closer home, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, whose brush will now bring to life PL Deshpande's pen portraits.

As my chronological benchmark stands hours away, 1968 becomes more than a year — a symbol of institutions and constructs that stayed afloat — somewhat like the Public Provident Fund tax-saving scheme that has safeguarded millions of lower and middle class salaried Indians. Introduced by the National Savings Institute of the Ministry of Finance in 1968, its raison d'être of small savings still fits well in the 2018 frame of reference; unlike hotel keys, landline telephones and cursive writing pride, which are turning obsolete in Shining India.