Friday, January 2, 2009

Happy Old Years

New Year's was good, New Year's was different, uncharacteristic of me. But then again, I'm learning that being social is good for health.
You know, a thought suddenly struck me today. Growing older really does have its advantages (and I don't mean alcohol, my friend Aeroplane.) I mean, I feel a little wiser. I was just thinking about those moods that are so hard to get out of (what a nice change it makes to think about those moods rather than crashing around in them) and I realised that only when you're older do you realise that that dark mess, that sick feeling that overwhelms and blinds you, strangling your throat, where you're this grey mass of a being? Yeah, that one. It doesn't last forever.
I mean, I'm talking about people like you and me. People who don't have REAL problems, who're just confused in life and don't know which way to go. Sure we have those pricks, those bumps on the road that trip us just when we're a-smooth sailin'. But we're okay. I'm okay. We survive.
At fourteen, you think everything is supposed to be perfect. "OMG why doesn't he like me?" , "Oh man, why do I have to be athletically challenged?" (I just could NOT play volleyball)
At twenty, the situation might not be so different. But atleast you're more equipped to deal with it. "Hmmm he doesn't like me. Like I care". "Okay I can't do a, b or c. But I think I can do x and y!" (Man, I sound boring now!)
What I'm (uninterestingly) saying is, that you get better with age. You don't get to know yourself completely but you learn to deal with the nonsense. You learn to shrug with your heart. You learn to smile when you least feel like it...and that things can improve when you do so. You learn that a word can be the most dangerous weapon.

When you say you're not a kid anymore, it doesn't mean that you're beyond cuddling up with your mommy or that you can't delight yourself with the exploits of Tom and Jerry.

It just means you have the sense to know that everything's temporary and you might as well enjoy it.

9 comments:

Mith said...

But then there are some who just can't seem to grow up at all. Case in point - I, ahem, might have, er, a thing for a (cough) ghost now. :P

There's just no stopping me is there?

Vimal said...

What makes you think you now know better than when you were 10?

Prez said...

@ Mith: If falling in love with fictional characters counts as being mature, then I'd gladly be a kid forever! How can you not be in love with Jesse???!!

@Vimal: I am now aware of several things, such as the fact that I cannot go on pretending I have an imaginary twin..oh wait, there's Mith. Okay, aside from that:
-that I will not be a basketball champion
-that life is messed up most of the time, but locking yourself up in your room is not the best way to deal with it (alright, I did that yesterday. But the difference is that now I KNOW that it's not the best way to deal with it. That's the difference. :D So wise, no?)

Vimal said...

20 years back I had a mild dislike for penguins. And then I grew up. I now have a paranoid (and entirely justified) fear of penguins. It is not likely to get better as I grow older.

"At the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords we're all
Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it." Ustinov, but i like to think it was Eisenhower. (Is it just me or does Ustinov sound like a bengali name? I feel Banerjee would look perfectly natural after Ustinov!)

"Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional."

Can't say it better :)

Mith said...

well, I did it. Read all 6 books in days flat. And I cried. Hmpf. Why can't life ever be like that? No, really! Is it too much to ask for?

"Querida"... oh, how I'm in love with that word!

Prez said...

@Vimal: Why penguins?? HOWWWW can you hate penguins???

@Mith: I KNOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Vimal said...

I don't hate penguins. I am terrified of them! They dont have necks or knees/ankles. Have u seen how they walk?! Dipping one shoulder after the other, heads swaying like pendulums from end to end...all slowly but surely marching forwards! And their eyes!!! Have u ever noticed?! their eyes dont have sclera! And the pinhole pupils! They have a very unnerving stare...one look at a penguin's eyes, and all my confidence is drained!
they have red eyes! They judge me all the time! they don't have a sense of humour!

I once watched "Happy Feet" at 10 in the night when I was alone at home... I didnt sleep at all that night!

Don't even get me started on peacocks! A peacock attacked me once!

Prez said...

HOW did a peacock attack you and WHERE?!

And penguins! Penguins!

They're SO CUTE :S

Vimal said...

It happened when i was 21/22...i was strolling around the college grounds, when this gigantic bird hopped up to me. i extended my claw to pat its head, and it pecked me! it pecked me!!!

well, almost... my superb reflex actions made sure its beak couldnt reach me...and I fell over backwards and hurt myself even worse.

When a peacock pecks, it instinctively goes for the eye! Isnt that horrible?! And have u ever seen a peacock fly? U shld see how it thrashes its wings about in an attempt to fly, but all it manages to do is to descend slowly. There used to be a white peacock near my grandma's house... it used to jump from rooftops while thrashing its wings I should stop!