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Life begins at sexy 40
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`The best is yet to be', is the attitude the present generation follows as it ages, finds Jessina Aboobacker
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PHOTO: A.M. FARUQUI
JOIE DE VIVRE Youth is a mental state . Age is no bar to many activities now
You are only as old as your mind. Look at the inimitable zest of the Big B who is striking it big in Bollywood and KBC in the sixth decade of his life. God bless him with a couple more decades to his life span. And the textile tycoon, Vijaypath Singhania, flying a micro light aircraft and setting a record at the age of 67. So, then, is age only a mental factor?
Ayurveda believes that youth in fact initiates at 40. A study conducted by a foreign university substantiates this. It establishes that the approach of people all over the world has undergone an extraordinary transformation, and people are performing and looking younger than their previous generation did at the same age. We can attribute the change to the fast-paced lifestyle where we are not given any time for flash back retrospection. People are eager to live life as it comes and this spirit keeps them younger.
The generation that is now parenting teenagers do not deem themselves old. People have prioritised in-personality progress that goes beyond looking good. As one believes in being good, one looks good. Age is acuity of the mind. Social attitudes have changed and old is now not really old. Intelligent minds that are working at challenging jobs have refused to buckle under the social expectation of retirement. "When I am back with my old pals, I feel I'm back in college even now," says Shanthi R, just into her fifties. "We even have a group mail id called `50 plus teens'! Our group goes on trips occasionally, just us, minus the husbands and kids. It feels like old times, you know."
People have become more health conscious, which keeps them robust and youthful. With a great deal of focus by the media, it is tough for the mass to ignore the importance of the ever youth campaign, as controversy's own child, Salman Khan once quoted, "Earlier, life ended at 40 but now life not only begins but rocks at 40."
Age just another number
This proves that age is now just another number in our lives, which can be camouflaged and manipulated to suit our vanity and other needs. The shift in the perception is due to a combination of health, psychology and longer life expectancy. The old ideas about horizontally prospering waistlines, shrivelled skin, and matronly clothes have been deported and we have imported the blessing of health centres, spa and a new vibrant attitude.
Our parents had limited opportunities. Life expectancy was low too. But people are no more letting themselves grow old psychologically. There is a perpetual craving to accomplish, and age is not an impediment. There is a renewed enthusiasm for life, for parties, for beauty, for travel.
Being five decades old today is what 40 used to be, and six decades is the new 50. An active mind makes life worth living. Rewind to earlier perception that sex life ended at 40, it now is a ripe age, naughty 40. India's own answer to eternal youth crusade is the practice of yoga. Certain yoga asanas like `sirshasana' and `pranayasana' helps skin preserve its glow and stay young. From lucent lotions to cosmetic surgery, every imaginable remedy is available on a salver for those who want to get liberated of their wrinkles, loose skin and crow's feet. It is no more an embarrassment for 70 or 80-year-olds to visit skin care clinics. In fact, it is fashionable and well accepted.
Given that life is beautiful be all set to rock when you hit the 40s.
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