Coming of Age - As Life Changes...

I was scrolling down my Facebook news feed and found three continuous posts of ‘Engaged to.’ At 11.30 PM on Monday night, it struck me hard- yes, I’ve grown old. I looked at the calendar; in another 12 days, I’d step into 26. Going by an educated guess of 65 as my life expectancy, I’ve lived out 38.5% of my life. It is such a disheartening feeling to realise that the famous ‘90’s kids’ are not kids any more.

Our Facebook news feed is about our friends and acquaintances getting engaged or married; some, celebrating Father’s, Mother’s and even Children’s day.

A full scroll-wheel rotation is needed to reach your year of birth in online forms. You no longer belong to the ’18-24’ age category.

The kid downstairs calls you uncle.

You are suddenly too old to play street cricket.

You no longer want to swipe on Tinder; you rather uninstall it to save memory on the device.

You are no longer interested in picking up a conversation with the girl sitting alone in the bar; neither do you have the energy and zeal to impress the new girl in the cab. Sometimes, you are driven to ask the question if you have any sexual drive at all.

Relatives who were obsessed with your rank, your 10^th, 12^th totals and cut-off, your choice of college and the company you go to work are suddenly asking when you’d get married.

Parents feel peer pressure; they bring up this topic all too often on your phone and Skype calls.

Friends are busy with their lives, wives and children; you feel stranded in the middle of the society moving at a break neck’s pace.

After the role change at office, your team mates no longer include you in their gossip.

You have people reporting to you at work when you yourself have no clue where you are heading.

Hangovers become real; you feel like killing yourself on the morning after booze night.

You feel you’ve developed some eye power; bruising knees and elbows pain more and take longer to heal.

You realise that without an 8 hour sleep, you will function like a zombie the next day.

The sleep-in’s seem to increase; you begin to feel that 400 bucks for the Uber is worth the extra 45 minutes’ sleep.

Money in the bank account does not seem to be enough at all. Your dreams overweigh them completely.

You no longer have the patience to sit through a boring movie.

Your favourite music, movies, games and books are now terms as ‘Classics.’

‘Red Candyman’ or ‘Blue Candyman’ decisions have been replaced by Fixed Deposits at 8.4% or Mutual Funds with market risks.

The way you have lived your life all this while is threatened. The realisation of a shift in the way world sees you sinks in slowly. Time, slowly but surely eggs on, ticking second by second, minute by minute and hour by hour, ageing you and changing perspectives. For no man has ever stood the test of time…