Life Begins at Fifty

No, I am not fifty as yet. I will be fifty in a few years, four actually. I was reading this book by Deepak Chopra where he discusses this interesting concept. He thinks that life begins at fifty. His reasoning is that one gets born, then spends the first 10 years getting toilet trained and learning how to walk and talk, Year 10 to 25 one gets educated and trained into a trade, Year 25 to 50 one spends in raising a family and then settling them. One truly starts to live for oneself at 50. Now I like this concept very much. So it follows that

*Year 50 to 60= First ten years of existence, where I can be truly and totally irresponsible

*I can indulge in all sorts of indiscretions and be forgiven for them because I am an infant who does not know any better

*I can throw tantrums and say NO to anything I don't want to do

*If stopped, I can sit down in the middle of the super market and bawl my heart out for the 51″ screen plasma TV that I really lust over

*Just because I want an Iphone, I can use my present Nokia N70 as a hammer and bash my horrible colleague in the head. Then I will feel less guilty about buying the I phone.

*I can refuse to take my ex-husband's calls because "I don't want to"

*I can refuse to go attend my children's PTI meets because "I don't want to"

*I can date a dude with 10 tattoos and 21 piercing because - well because my Papa would have shot any guy who looked like that and was found in the vicinity of his daughter

*I can chuck my job because I fought with my boss

*I can eat and drink unsuitable but delicious things to my heart's content

*I can try to emulate the contortions practiced by all the blue flicks - at least once before I die

Ahhh, would it not be sheer adventure? Now I wish I could convince my failing digestion, my aging heart and my stiffening joints that they are not yet born and will be born when I am 50 years old, after which they should be young and supple and support me in my adventures.

Jokes apart, reaching landmark 50 years is something that doesn't scare me. I wept on my 30th birthday, but am more comfortable with the idea of reaching 50. Perhaps it is because by this age one has seen it all - the ups, the downs, the games people play, the betrayals. One has tasted both success and failure. One knows the meaning of power; one has experienced the futility of ethics. One has seen the joys of being a parent and the pains of being one. One has tasted the bliss of sex, its whims, and also known what passion without love is. Perversion of the human mind is not an unfamiliar area. Grace and bliss have gladdened the heart, and grim realities and pain have strengthened it. By 50 one has wept for loved ones who have died, and experienced joy at birth of a new soul. One has been deceived, betrayed and knocked out. One has also been loved and supported. One has seen it all. So I guess I will play the game of life full-heartedly like I do now. Yes I will welcome life that begins when I am 50.