Question: So how does it feel 2 years away from 30?
(Horrible, terrible, wish I could turn the clock behind!!)
Answer: (smilingly) “Well, it isn’t that bad. Isn’t age simply a number? As long as there’s still time that I get nasty wrinkles on my face and start to lose my hair, it’s alright. J
( :\ :’( )
Most women, at the onset of the later twenties go through massive unusual psychological insecurities – It could be anything from Career, Appearance, Weight, the dilemma of Marriage or Commitment (& the suffocating family pressure around it) to the unstoppable ‘Biological Clock’ of reproduction and this and that. If they said that the most important turning points in a woman’s life are, the twelve, sixteen, eighteen, twenty one, thirty, forty five, sixty and so on, I guess they forgot to include the most critical of all.
If you’ve just turned twenty eight, you might have been finished with at least your “student life”. So the good old exams can be bid goodbyes forever (err… by that I mean exams of those kinds). You’re most likely to have figured what you wanted to do in terms of your career and are expecting a decent stability there in for some time. That’s actually a reason of concern because parents see THAT, and gleefully decide up to end the cool and carefree era of your spinsterhood and rob you off your 100%-spend-on-self freedom and I-love-my-boyfriend-but-that-guy-is-cute life. And suddenly you are required to pick and choose from A. Serving tea to a queue of suited-booted prospective grooms (while their moms noticing the tiniest move you make) or B. Get the steady boyfriend’s full family bio-data, that’s when you were just thinking about how to wrap up that chapter with him.
(And you thought Puberty was tough on you!?)
Career-wise, things keep going well until you step in your office. You just got a subordinate who’s consistently terrible at whatever he’s been asked to do. He has some preconceived notions on how a female boss is usually like (he picked that one from college), and hence there is a possibility that he despises you. And each time you delegate, he deliberately tries to slander your ultimate accountability to YOUR boss – Who ‘just by the way’ thinks that you’re reckless and that you shun work responsibilities. Yeah, the Boss is right – for the kind of work sometimes that’s given to you as against what the lateral manager is given (who happens to be a guy), is crap. And you shun crap, nothing’s wrong in that. Your next promotion is due since last year, and everything seems to be nothing but SLOW, snail speed, just for you. And you just turned twenty eight!
Marriage is good – *post 11PM. Rest everything is a juggle between Home–Work–Homework & Husband work. What seemed like a lot of money now is always less. It’s like Minus (1) of everything you ever thought it would be like in your mind – 1 TV for 2, 1 Car for 2, 2 BHK for a 3 BHK, 1 trip for 2 in a year, Domestic for each International and yes you can’t buy a dress for each occasion for your sister’s wedding! Yes ‘the birthday gift’ from your husband is still a valid phenomenon, but now there are no surprises anymore – you get to choose one from the bottom three (cheapest) priority items from your own wish list – and still not be sure of the “Brand” you wanted, getting compromised, with another “Similar” brand with an obviously lower price tag. And finally, with the contemplation and discussions happening about each time you have to make a massive capital expense being a routine, the parents (earlier 2, now 4) suddenly feel older and senile and make haphazard demands of getting to see the face of the future generation. (Really? Now??). And all you can do is “act shy” and hide yourself somewhere. “Yes of course Mom! That’s exactly what I’m planning to do. Sell my newly bought house and fund your grandchildren’s diapers with that!”
Having said all that, I may have ruined your birthday spirit and you might just be on the verge of a depression – thinking about what may be in store for you.
But hey wait, did I tell you that you’re twenty eight now, and can proudly say you are a self dependent principal decision maker in your family – and you can take it where you want to from here. You have a house of your own and you can decide which bedroom to take for yourself. The kitchen is yours and you can cook or get your delightful favorites cooked. It’s the time when you reap benefits of whatever good you did in the past, and it’s time when you’re most likely to have a beautiful companion to share it with. This is the time when the parents need the best in you, and you deliver. Yes, it’s a tough time, but it makes you a tougher woman.
And “Twenty eight” is when you have just become a complete woman. So Congratulations and Happy birthday!
(Oh come on, piss off jerk, it’s my birthday!!!)
J
