The Signs of Ageing

Going by the title of this post, you are probably anticipating a beauty revelation, perhaps tips on spotting and postponing the signs of ageing...eh?

Well, you can't be more wrong!

Image source: Pixabay

 
As I see people already planning where and how to spend New Year's eve, I realize, yet another year will pass us by shortly. Hmm, getting older aren't we?

Beauty companies are advertising anti-ageing creams to be used right from your 20's, beat that! This literally implies you're ageing from the time you're born? Kind of comforting to hear that, isn't it? No wonder, you are a 5-year OLD or a 15-year OLD!
Personal observations have led me to compile some of the aspects of ageing and premature ageing at that!
So here I am, sharing these observations to get a consensus regarding the process of ageing and obviously presenting a feminine perspective here. 
Gentlemen, aren't you closer to Martians? Go get one to list your set of signs-of-ageing!
And no, I am not revealing my age here, go on...take wild guesses!

Here we go folks, be honest and confess freely in the comments below if you identify with all, some or (I soo hope not!) none of these signs-of-ageing!

1) Cover page grievances: The obvious giveaways! Hips and looks don't lie, do they?
Scrunching your eyes to read fine print annoys you, while creaky joints, unsightly bulges, spotty pigmentation and greying/falling hair all seem to be losing battles. 
Sagely you remind yourself, beauty is only skin-deep and carry on with life!  
You are disgruntled when you see the svelte young neighbor return from a sweaty jog just as you're puffy-eyedly picking up the newspaper from the doorstep. You console yourself saying jogging puts too much pressure on the joints.

2) Come again?: You find yourself repeating the same jokes in the same circles, of course the circle being close to you, limits itself to eye-rolling and yawns. You are still singing 'Thathayya thathayaa hoo' when its your turn to sing from 'थ' in Antakshari sessions!  
At loggerheads with this is the sense of déjà vu that visits you ever so often. 
'Haven't I heard this before?', 'Haven't I seen her before?', you ask yourself. 
Forget birthdays, what is it with remembering something as simple as names? Yeah, sure at times the name sticks but you draw a blank on the face! Even messier, a familiar face looms up and you just can't pin a name to it! 
'Guess who?' on the old telephone landline rattles you like nothing else and hence you prefer the caller Id enabled mobile phone at all times.
Absent-mindedness enters a whole new level as you are standing irritably in front of your house door and insistently pressing your remote car key to get the damned door open! Maybe its time to ponder a Pensieve purchase!

3) Tech-me-not: Just as you're coming to terms with your smart-phone's versatility, the world around you is 'pixel'ating miles ahead. If tech was your Achilles heel, the social media is your Darth Vader! There are only limited new tricks an old dog can learn, you infer!

4) Back in Time: Life is coming around a full circle you realize, when you're quoting lines you hated hearing! 
 "Must your clothes always be on the floor?" 
"Who do you think is going to put that cup in the sink?" 
"How can anyone sleep so much?"
All your childish foibles are coming back to haunt you in the form of truant offspring.  
You are also sympathizing a lot more with what your parents must have gone through. Their words of wisdom that you so abhorred hearing then are what you are chanting over and over again now! You also recognize the bored, disgusted to outright venomous looks your kids throw you every time you attempt parental conversations with them.

5) Hurray its a Holi-Holiday: Your idea of an ideal holiday would be a beachside or mountainside or any poolside in a good resort with activities ranging from lounging on a deck-chair, bird-watching, fishing, reading and massages at the spa-center. 
You are happy enough browsing other people's travails...oops travel diaries narrating their journey to exotic and adventurous destinations. 
Holidaying on the beaten track suits you just fine!

6) A Good time: A hot soak in the tub, mindless television and a home-cooked meal wrapped in well-worn night clothes sound way more appealing than revelries at a late evening cocktail party. The silent gratitude of your aching limbs more than makes up for it!
Weekend squabbles with your partner and a therapeutic home-cleaning session are a lot more enjoyable than the long drive across the town, braving snarling traffic to attend a rock concert, aren't they?

7) Address issues: Neighborhood vendors who indulgently called you Didi now benevolently address you as Auntyji. The cheeky teens in your building go a step further by helping you load groceries into the lift! Despite your insistence, the new interns at office defer calling you by your first name!

8) Shopoholia: Shopping online seems like a fantastic idea to you, now that you are wary of crowds and queues! As you browse, your wishlist shifts focus from the fashion section to the books section, then to the reclining chairs, the tempting foot-massagers, the anti-ageing creams, the damage-free hair colorants and more.  
You'd pull off online shopping perfectly if only you remembered the online password and what it was you'd started to buy in the first place. But that doesn't restrain your shopping craves, does it? Password retrieval helps you out and you end up buying all you browsed and some more!

9) Bedazzled: You are ecstatic with the new stretchable jeans you found, the generous pallazzos and the airy kaftans. Comfort matters more than silhouettes, doesn't it? 
For footwear, you seek out flats or platforms that are hopefully cushioned - Aunty chappals you used to call them in your immature years.  
You have new-found respect for the all-size-shape-fitting garment that you disdainfully abstained from all these years - the Saree! 
Your hairdo is something you have little or no control on - you style it the best way you can, knowing it will revert back to its frizzy glory in no time at all. Yes, a bandana does sound very tempting now.

10) Kitchen Capers: Your penchant for healthy cooking, experimenting with different cuisines, impressing the better half, baking and the rest seem to have waned considerably.  
You are now setting targets to see how fast you can get away from the confines of the kitchen. Pot-luck, one-pot-meal and quick-fix recipes are what you are looking for nowadays.
You earnestly yearn to achieve perfection in that staple dal-chaawal-rajma¹ or sambar-rasam-kuttu-curry² and even more depressing common-place curd rice! 
On the one hand, the taste-buds are on a regressive time-warp, insistent on revisiting childhood hates and on the other hand inexplicably drawn to decadent desserts! 

11) Tolerance issues: Is it the umbrage of sluggish hormones (a counter-part of the rebellious adolescent hormones) or the wrath of the greying- crowning-glory, that are to blame for your decreased tolerance to everything? 
Late guests, jarring music, less salt in food, snarky kids, newspaper-obsessed spouse, less than appreciative bosses, absentee maids, dusty furniture, scowling bus conductor, groping lechers, bad grammar, Arnab Goswami, nosy neighbors....arghhh...a long, long list of seemingly innocent situations can trigger you off on a relentless tirade! 
No taking $h!t from anyone, you are at a stage where you give it back, loud and clear! Don't mess with Auntyji, MIND IT!!

There I've done it! I've managed to capture 11 signs-of-ageing, will Olay help tackle the extras? I would have liked to rave on a bit more on this self-revelation trip but darn my oh-so-fleeting-memory!
I hope none of you is smugly casting aspersions to middle-age blues or menopausal syndromes, we are not walking that path...yet!!

Do drop in your comments and don't be shy, share with me your stories on the signs-of-ageing :)

Till later,

Stay Gorgeous, all you women out there!!
And men, take heart, I am sure one of you out there having read this, is coming up with a post for you too :p


1 - North-Indian soul-food
2 - South-Indian soul-food 

I couldn't resist sharing this lovely bit of poetry, that is still relevant after so many years of its writing!

The Mirror 

By Edmund Burke

  I look in the mirror
And what do I see?
A strange looking person
That cannot be me.

For I am much younger
And not nearly so fat
As that face in the mirror
I am looking at.

Oh, where are the mirrors
That I used to know
Like the ones which were
Made thirty years ago?

Now all things have changed
And I’m sure you’ll agree
Mirrors are not as good
As they used to be.

So never be concerned,
If wrinkles appear
For one thing I’ve learned
Which is very clear,

Should your complexion
Be less than perfection,
It is really the mirror
That needs correction!!
 

Edmund Burke, Irish Philosopher

(1729 – 1797)

This post is up on BlogAdda's #TangyTuesday pick!

 BlogAdda Tangy Tuesday Pick

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