'Young leaders' should relax - no one ever ages in India
Indians have a very ‘different’ concept of age. And you know that the moment you ask someone how old they are.
“I am running 30,” or some numeric like that, they will quip.
One knows exactly what the other means because, well, they’re both Indians. Throw a ‘videshi’ in the mix, and you’ll find them scratching their heads to understand how ‘age’ can ‘run!’
But we, Indians, are like this only. We like our age and water running, but collective progress, at a standstill.
When it comes to positions of power, the math is no different — which is why a political party that prides itself in its ‘youthful’ ideologies, elects a septuagenarian leader.
Thursday evening was a long one, and after much midnight oil-burning discussion, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi along with senior leaders like UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi settled upon Kamal Nath, 72, as Madhya Pradesh's next chief minister. Nath’s contender, Jyotiraditya Scindia, 47, clearly must wait. His due time will come, perhaps in another two decades.
On the far left of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan is also left in a similar tumult, where the choice between the ‘fresh’ and the ‘experienced’ continue to stymie selection processes. After much (more) deliberation, Rajasthan too tilted towards Ashok Gehlot, 67, and not Sachin Pilot, 41.
One way to look at this selection pattern is to say the obvious — that experience trumps freshness. Obviously, it does. That's the very definition of ‘experience.’ But it also perhaps means that 70 is the new 40.
You see, the concept of ‘running’ age is tricky, for you don’t know which direction it is headed. And it is on this tricky tightrope where we Indians balance our understanding of age.
That umar 55 ka ho toh chalega, as long as dil bachpan ka hai.
After all, no one really wants to age towards a point where the tightness of your skin and coherence of your mind gives way. A billion-dollar beauty industry has mushroomed just so it could harness this impish age that keeps getting away. But failing.
Clearly, we Indians have mastered something that no one else seems to have.
And we’ve had great role models who’ve lead us by example.
We love our superstars aged like fine wine, standing up for millennial issues. Even if that means recreating entire bodies on a 19” monitor and shooting in front of a green screen, Thalaiva will remain Thalaiva.
We will still keep falling for their painted and contoured abs because they will never be expendable, even when they are The Expendables.
Come to think of it, it’s quite liberating. It means that while we may be a sexist, biased nation, with all our metaphorical balls up in the air and with little idea where each might land, we are definitely not ageist.
Take note, The Cut!
Just like our ‘developing country’ label never goes to the next step on the grid, ageing never ages.
In the Congress’ case, it is especially true, a party that markets its chief as the ‘most eligible bachelor of India’ at 48.
Therefore the Scindias and the Pilots must wait, and remember that the two most powerful warriors are patience and time.