LX, a notch of appointedness in a contemporary car, is no different than how I feel with the same Roman numeral age. Me, a 1957 model with most cylinders firing, in an LX state-of-mind-and-life!
Sixty is a milestone, no less significant than sixteen (driving age), eighteen (adulthood), twenty-one (smoking and drinking age) ... and then a long gap of thirty-nine years! While thirty, forty, fifty claim to be "over-the-hill" milestones, they are lack-luster compared to their next decade milestone.
That sixty comes after 59-and-a-half is an irrefutable truism! That means IRA withdrawal eligibility without a 10% penalty! The next 10-and-a-half years is when I have the prerogative to avail of the IRA without the compulsion! What freedom!
Second, it is the completion of a decade over which one's life risk grows 20+ times - the actuarial assessment of the life insurance premium - which makes the one-time-affordable-and-necessary life coverage now unaffordable-and unnecessary!
Third, it is the beginning of a decade which will make me social-security-eligible in two years, and at the end of which, the social-security payments will not grow. And, it is good to note that the risk of social-security insolvency did not materialize in my lifetime.
Having enumerated the tangibles, I move to the intangibles - what age one feels and not what age one is!
A poet, Bhausaheb Patankar, has written:
That is, it is only the circumstance, and not my state of mind that defines my age state. Some youngsters, out of reverence, address me as "uncle", and this got extrapolated to an extreme when a toddler addressed me "grandpa" - with his real grandfather in tow, proud of the baby's sense of judgment! Do I call this poor conditioning, or what?
I remember a children's cartoon called The Little Engine that Could - the "could" to be interpreted as "the little engine could do anything it wanted to through hard work and focus", and not "the little engine that could do somethings that it cannot do today". I definitely subscribe to the former (and intended) interpretation. Gone are the days when age determined the corner of the room (or balcony) that a person was "retired" into, with do's and don'ts galore, a plethora of pills and mostly meaningless restrictions. Here comes the world of living it up - in mind, body, and spirit - and an acceptance that thinking can only evolve and not degenerate!
The Bucket List - the term derived from the days when public hangings in the medieval times involved the convict standing on an inverted bucket with a noose around the neck, and the bucket then being kicked to complete the execution! Notwithstanding its etymology, it speaks to the urge of completing/achieving some things (obviously!) before dying.
A cousin posed a question, "What if you are on your death-bed thinking that there are so many things you have not done/achieved?"
My answer was unromantic: "First, it is very unlikely that you will know you are on your death-bed, because the moments just before you die are tagged as such only after you die! Second, it is very unlikely that you are in such sharp state of mind to think as your mind and body are fast shutting down. Third, suppose you do know that those are your last moments, and suppose you are in a state of perfect rational/emotional thinking - what is the big deal of not completing/achieving everything?"
Needless to say, my response was not well-received, and he has not discussed that topic since, though both of us are still well and kicking!
I am not quite prepared to give anyone any piece of advice on life or any other matter, much that age will bring upon me those expectations to fulfill. The word I have come to like a lot is Spontaneity! For no profound reason, for no "lining up of the stars", but "JUST BECAUSE" - another remarkable phrase I have learnt from the teenagers. The "because" satisfies our innate urge for analysis, the "just" so beautifully nullifies it!
I admire moon-rises and eclipses ... just because
I love driving without the GPS (and sometimes, wipers) on ... just because
On my next trip to London, I shall try out a hookah on Edgware Road ... just because
I live the remainder of my life ... just because ;-)
Sixty is a milestone, no less significant than sixteen (driving age), eighteen (adulthood), twenty-one (smoking and drinking age) ... and then a long gap of thirty-nine years! While thirty, forty, fifty claim to be "over-the-hill" milestones, they are lack-luster compared to their next decade milestone.
That sixty comes after 59-and-a-half is an irrefutable truism! That means IRA withdrawal eligibility without a 10% penalty! The next 10-and-a-half years is when I have the prerogative to avail of the IRA without the compulsion! What freedom!
Second, it is the completion of a decade over which one's life risk grows 20+ times - the actuarial assessment of the life insurance premium - which makes the one-time-affordable-and-necessary life coverage now unaffordable-and unnecessary!
Third, it is the beginning of a decade which will make me social-security-eligible in two years, and at the end of which, the social-security payments will not grow. And, it is good to note that the risk of social-security insolvency did not materialize in my lifetime.
Having enumerated the tangibles, I move to the intangibles - what age one feels and not what age one is!
A poet, Bhausaheb Patankar, has written:
पौत्राधिका पाहून वाटे झालो जरासा वृद्ध मी
(I realize I have become old only when I see the next generations)
That is, it is only the circumstance, and not my state of mind that defines my age state. Some youngsters, out of reverence, address me as "uncle", and this got extrapolated to an extreme when a toddler addressed me "grandpa" - with his real grandfather in tow, proud of the baby's sense of judgment! Do I call this poor conditioning, or what?
I remember a children's cartoon called The Little Engine that Could - the "could" to be interpreted as "the little engine could do anything it wanted to through hard work and focus", and not "the little engine that could do somethings that it cannot do today". I definitely subscribe to the former (and intended) interpretation. Gone are the days when age determined the corner of the room (or balcony) that a person was "retired" into, with do's and don'ts galore, a plethora of pills and mostly meaningless restrictions. Here comes the world of living it up - in mind, body, and spirit - and an acceptance that thinking can only evolve and not degenerate!
The Bucket List - the term derived from the days when public hangings in the medieval times involved the convict standing on an inverted bucket with a noose around the neck, and the bucket then being kicked to complete the execution! Notwithstanding its etymology, it speaks to the urge of completing/achieving some things (obviously!) before dying.
A cousin posed a question, "What if you are on your death-bed thinking that there are so many things you have not done/achieved?"
My answer was unromantic: "First, it is very unlikely that you will know you are on your death-bed, because the moments just before you die are tagged as such only after you die! Second, it is very unlikely that you are in such sharp state of mind to think as your mind and body are fast shutting down. Third, suppose you do know that those are your last moments, and suppose you are in a state of perfect rational/emotional thinking - what is the big deal of not completing/achieving everything?"
Needless to say, my response was not well-received, and he has not discussed that topic since, though both of us are still well and kicking!
I am not quite prepared to give anyone any piece of advice on life or any other matter, much that age will bring upon me those expectations to fulfill. The word I have come to like a lot is Spontaneity! For no profound reason, for no "lining up of the stars", but "JUST BECAUSE" - another remarkable phrase I have learnt from the teenagers. The "because" satisfies our innate urge for analysis, the "just" so beautifully nullifies it!
I admire moon-rises and eclipses ... just because
I love driving without the GPS (and sometimes, wipers) on ... just because
On my next trip to London, I shall try out a hookah on Edgware Road ... just because
I live the remainder of my life ... just because ;-)
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