After I crossed 30, my mental age has not changed much. I still think of me as the same old person ( note this usage of 'old' does not pertain to age!). Also, whomever I talk to who looks like my age, I assume she is my own age. If I can communicate to someone in the same wave length as mine, I assume they are my own age!This has given me some interesting shocks!
I still think of me as a fresh graduate from College! But somewhere down the lane, I never realized that what people perceive in me is much different from my mental image of myself!
Being the mother of two kids, people have promoted me from 'chechi' or 'akka' to 'aunty'!Last weekend, we attended a wedding. There was this girl I met in the women's room and she was feeding her infant. She had an older kid who is my second one's age. She called me 'aunty'! I am like - you have 2 kids and I too have 2 kids...what makes me more of an aunty! Of course, I did not say that to her. I smiled and came back.
The converse is also true - I think of Mr.X as 'uncle' assuming he is close to 40 (or at least 6-8 years older from me). I am still holding on to the mental image of 'uncle figure' from years back!
But when I know their real age, I am so shocked, I am only 1 or 2 years younger to the 'uncle'. So he is not so much of an uncle. But I have become more of an aunty!
To top it all, last year, I recall someone called from our church and they were asking for some contribution. They just addressed me 'Ammachi' right away! The person who spoke thought that he has got his name into the good books of the eldest member of the family - or at least that was his idea. You are not going get a penny out of my pocket if you do that! Do I sound like Kaviyoor Ponnamma or Manorama! (Now that is a rhetorical question! Shh..!)
Nevertheless, I would like to hang on to this mental feeling of age. It helps me to relate to younger people's feelings and understand them better. It helps me be approachable in case of problems. I prefer to be shocked like this once in a while..but I will hold on to my youth!
I still think of me as a fresh graduate from College! But somewhere down the lane, I never realized that what people perceive in me is much different from my mental image of myself!
Being the mother of two kids, people have promoted me from 'chechi' or 'akka' to 'aunty'!Last weekend, we attended a wedding. There was this girl I met in the women's room and she was feeding her infant. She had an older kid who is my second one's age. She called me 'aunty'! I am like - you have 2 kids and I too have 2 kids...what makes me more of an aunty! Of course, I did not say that to her. I smiled and came back.
The converse is also true - I think of Mr.X as 'uncle' assuming he is close to 40 (or at least 6-8 years older from me). I am still holding on to the mental image of 'uncle figure' from years back!
But when I know their real age, I am so shocked, I am only 1 or 2 years younger to the 'uncle'. So he is not so much of an uncle. But I have become more of an aunty!
To top it all, last year, I recall someone called from our church and they were asking for some contribution. They just addressed me 'Ammachi' right away! The person who spoke thought that he has got his name into the good books of the eldest member of the family - or at least that was his idea. You are not going get a penny out of my pocket if you do that! Do I sound like Kaviyoor Ponnamma or Manorama! (Now that is a rhetorical question! Shh..!)
Nevertheless, I would like to hang on to this mental feeling of age. It helps me to relate to younger people's feelings and understand them better. It helps me be approachable in case of problems. I prefer to be shocked like this once in a while..but I will hold on to my youth!
