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Fun, vintage grade
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Fun begins at 40 for Gen-Ex and pub hopping is how they let their hair down, writes K. SACHIDANAND MENON
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Photo: K. Gajendran
A drink with old pals
THERE'S SOMETHING colourful about going grey and we ain't talking about the blues. Clooney gets to date a bevy of beauties, Connery turns into a sex symbol with those very Irish frown lines and Clinton, well...
If that's wild West, the greybeards in town, to use a cheeky term, aren't frumpy at 40 either. Putting down drinks with buddies, grooving on the dance floor and an occasional walk down the wild side is their idea of living it up, no holds barred. "We are a group of friends who visit pubs quite often to chill out," says Dr I.J. Anand, a former scientist who now runs a poultry farm. All of 62, and still going strong, Anand says pubs are the perfect stress busters after a week of cutting business deals and driving hard bargains. His group prefers to loll about at Ten Downing Street and let "the drink and music sink in slow".
Those up for more excitement go pub hopping, touching base at all the party hotspots in the city. For architect and interior designer Renu Hassan, variety definitely is the spice of life. "It all depends on the mood but we have hit on all the pubs in town," says the 40-something socialite. "I guess the concept of a social get-together is changing. Earlier, people gathered at a friend's place and the mood was mild. But now, with pubs coming up all over, it is so much fun to go out with your gang."
Quick to sniff profits, pub owners are cashing in on the opportunity by tossing up theme nights for the forever young. Not that it would make much of a difference for veteran party animals who live by the have-time-will-party credo. However, the theme nights have many takers, offering as they do attractive discounts. Dwelling on the concept, Vinod Reddy, partner, Ten Downing, says, "We have Vintage Mondays at our pub where the idea is to offer discounts equivalent to the age of customers if they are over 40. He or she can also foot the bill of those who tag along, with the discount. Some of our regular customers are well into their Sixties."
... While the boys chill out too.
Money does matter but if the music doesn't hit the right wavelength, the discounts don't mean a thing to true-blue pubbers. When he plays for an older crowd, DJ Blackjack, a.k.a David Masilamani, knows it isn't easy to get the feet tapping. "No one in the 50-plus bunch wants to sit down with their drink and suffer a Beyonce. Bad Company, Steely Dan, Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens is more like it," says the disc jockey who's just two years short of touching 50 himself. "Quite a few of them head for the dance floor. You see, it's just the body that's a bit creaky. Inside, there's still a lot of life. But at 60, things start slowing down a bit. So you go for Nat King Cole and Sinatra."
That sounds like a lot of zing for Gen-Ex but the story doesn't end here. The city's even got its Clintons and Clooneys. And they are identified by the rather sweet term "sugar daddy". Ask the DJ about this and he keeps it short, "Yes. I have seen them hit the dance floor." Life does begin at 40, wot?
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