Two months back I turned fifty. Even though I would like to say that I do not feel like it or would not like to act like it, the fact remains that I turned fifty. I hate to look myself in mirror and rather remember my self image from younger days but I can not ignore the rounded belly and effects of gravity on the body frame.
For sometimes now my body has been reminding me that I am getting on with years but now that I have turned fifty I suppose I must pause and listen to its voice more carefully. To someone young fifty is ancient and old but on other hand I am still young to those who are seventy plus, as they have twenty, or more, years on me.
So what’s with turning fifty?
Biologically it is considered half way point in ones life, although from all accounts (and google too) the average life span is 80.3 years. Leave it up to statisticians to come up with figures like that 80.3. Leaving aside that 0.3 the half way point was crossed when I turned forty (Being an Indian male the average is less than 67 years so the half way point was even lower!) As if this all was not confusing enough they keep changing this figure every few years.So what is with fifty?
Is it because fifty is nice round figure – quite like my rotund figure? If you enunciate fifty it comes off the tongue like something being spit out. But then so does sixty and ninety also adds a bit of exclamation in enunciation. So whats is with fifty?
Roman numerals are fascinating. I, II, III and then why did they not write IIII but iV? Then X and instead of waiting till C they introduce L to represent fifty. Okay I know the logic of introducing a midway point and just like that the life’s midway point is considered as fifty and as Italians would say with shrug of shoulders “To hell with statistician!” Did you know how romans pronounced fifty? I don’t but while searching for an answer I found a fascinating site at to test your knowledge about roman numerals and another site I found which was even more amusing and challenging. In Italian fifty is Cinquanta but was this same in roman? So what else is with fifty?
At fifty you are “Uncle” to a whole lot of younger people. And that is something I do not like, especially when the better looking half of our species addresses me with that title. At fifty you get the privilege of starting sentences with “When we were young…..” At fifty you have attention out of respect if nothing else from younger lot. At fifty you can ramble on on non topics just like I have here. At fifty you can blow one candle on the cake…fifty of them on cake will spoil it. So what else is with fifty?
At fifty you can not run. I mean you want to but you can not. At fifty you stop to let traffic pass instead of trying to rule the road. At fifty you can not pass of as a smart thirty on the dance floor, you just can not breath in enough air if you try to. At fifty you can not jump with joy lest you break your ankle or leg. So whats with turning fifty?
You tend to ramble when you turn fifty …… 