I recently saw the movie “Turning 30..” featuring Gul Panag and realised that I had long crossed that limit, precisely six years back. My God, I was nearing the age of Forty.

Where did all this time go…?

Well, no point in being  self-critical. Moreover, it’s not that as if  I do not know where that time was spent  and I am not regretting any of it either.

They say that you can be naughty at forty. But, aren’t we supposed to have an inherent streak of naughtiness for that, first? And if I do not have it ,then? Would four years be enough time to practice….?

And what does an adult ‘naughtiness’ amount to? PDA, is too childish. Having sex at the risk of getting caught-adventurous yes but naughty? I guess that gives high to 20-somethings.

A mobile advertisement shows a young woman changing the handset colours for two timing different men and tag line says -“its good to change colours”.  There goes, if twenty somethings are doing that so it can not classify as naughty for people at forty and even that would be outdated by the time I turn forty! Also the type of society that I move in, everybody knows just about everybody. I might mention about somebody in Indore and discover that one of my friend was also acquainted to that same person since the time that they were in Gwalior or Bhopal or Ahmedabad or for that matter in US (somehow all people in Gwalior seem to know all people elsewhere, friends or relatives). Goes to show what a small world it is , specially the one I inhabit!

Even at my husband’s workplace, that is the defense services everybody knows everybody too well. This ‘changing colours’ funda wouldn’t work in my part of world. I am not a pub frequenting types too so I do not have any chance of meeting up new people outside my vast(?) circle.

Moreover i won’t be comfortable with something like that. And asking people of our parents age about what they did on turning forty would surely give a blank response because Indians mostly celebrate the milestone of either fifty or seventy-five and that by praying and thanking God. Even the thought of being NAUGHTY would be sacrilegious(may be i am wrong coz I can never ask and know the truth). The recent fifty somethings will not spill the beans either!

Sigh!! I guess I’ll not be able to figure out how to be naughty at forty. May be, when I turn forty a bright spark will enlighten me. I’ll wait and watch…