Of late, I’ve noticed a lot of hype about people hitting thirty – the big 3-0, dirty thirties or whatever you want to call it. Obviously, it’s not like you’re going to undergo a metamorphosis and transform yourself overnight into a ‘mature’, ‘responsible’ or all those adjectives we generally associate with age. But there are these realisations that strike you when you gradually grow out of your 20s and walk into your 30s. In this article, we round up some of those “oops” and “wow” moments that will welcome you as you head towards or hit 30.
Grey Hairs – Ah, Njan Ennaarilla
Remember the first time you found a grey hair that turned up unannounced and was unapologetically nestling amid the bunch of your pitch-black locks? Probably the day the universe decided to drop a subtle hint about your age? You might surely have thought – this is it “I’m officially old!” My “officially old” moment struck me when I was 27 and brushing my hair looking at a large round mirror (the kind that gives you a zoomed-in version of your face) at a hotel bathroom and noticing a grey strand waving at me right above my temple.
My reaction to it was nothing short of a sharp wail and it was so loud that my partner actually thought I was in distress – probably slipped against the wet floor and fell down. But yeah, that’s pretty understandable when it’s your first. You may even contemplate coloring your hair to hide that single grey that turned your day topsy-turvy. Come 30, and you’ll be flaunting those grey strands off and intending to not keep track of how many greys you’ve spotted since the first time!
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Uncle/Aunty Mat Kaho Naa
If you’ve watched the 90s Hindi sitcom Hum Paanch, as a kid you’d surely have wondered what was wrong with the aunty who reacted with “aunty mat kaho naa” each time she was called an aunty. Two decades later, who would have thought that you’d already have a long line of tiny, adorable nephews, nieces and sons/daughters of friends who smother you with their “aunty” and “uncle” vilikal. Arinjilla, aarum paranjilla! Wait till you get to your 30s, and a random tweenager in the lift asks you, “Aunty, 3 onnu press cheyyumo?” If this doesn’t make you sed, then I don’t know what will!
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Agreeableness Can Take A Hike. Enik Ente Nilapaadu Undu
Our teens and the 20s were the time we tried to ‘fit in’ among our peers, teammates and any other group that mattered to us. There may have been myriad circumstances when we had nodded our heads and agreed to the status quo just because it felt wrong to disagree with a group of people or even a person dear to us. And of course, let’s not ignore the fact that having a popular opinion garnered more likeability, as revealed by the Big-5 personality test. However, once you inch closer to your 30s, you will realise that being too agreeable is not always cool. In fact, it never was! If you have a strong opinion about something and you think it’s right, it makes perfect sense to challenge the consensus no matter how many are against you. Definitely one of the best things about hitting 30!
Traffic Jams And Bad Weather Start To Annoy You
If you encounter a combination of traffic jams and heavy rain, in your early 20s you’d probably want to get out of your car and do something filmy like a rain dance. You don’t see them as obstacles but as an invitation to get your adventure mode on for a moment to cherish. When you hit 30, all you can do is cuss at the jam, curse the weather and hope things would clear up soon so that you can get around to normalcy.
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Why Is My Birthday Always Round The Corner?
Now I don’t know if it’s just my thing, but after 25 I’ve always felt that my birthday arrives faster than it should. Quite the opposite of how it used to be in our childhood. Weren’t there days we wished that we had more than one birthday a year just so that we can feel extra pampered and extra loved along with lots of cake and sweet treats! And damn me if I know why we always wanted to grow up!
When we were 11 we just yearned for our 13th birthday to arrive, so that we could get the ‘teenager’ crown and when we were 18 we yearned for our 21st birthday for the adult status…so on, and so forth, until you reach your late twenties, fill up a boring, mannerless form that demands your age and be like “Damn, am I really this close to 30? I remember filling in 23 last year!”
Nobody Really Cares What You Do Anymore
So, this is one of the brighter sides of turning 30. You may have felt that a lot of people other than your immediate family and constant persons were interfering in everything from your career prospects to kalayana alojanakal. Also, the minute you do something wrong they meticulously arrive breathing down their usual unsolicited ‘I-told-you-so’s down your neck to shame you. Newsflash! A lot of this disappears when you turn 30. Much to your pleasure, you’d find that many of these people don’t really care what you do or say anymore. Obviously, they would have shifted their attention to hunt the next younger victim to carry on their shaming game.
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Pinging My 20-year-old Sibling For Quick Tips On New Apps
So you’re new to Snapchat and you’ve no idea what the three dots at the bottom right do; so what do you do? Google it? Nah! Find an explainer video on YouTube? Maybe! But in your 30s, you’d vouch that the most convenient option is to navigate out of the app, open WhatsApp and ping your 20-year-old sibling or cousin. You were probably that kutty a decade ago who was everyone’s go-to person for anything revolving around new social networking apps but yeah gotta make way for the puthiya pillaru!
How Did I Ever Think That 30-year-olds Had It Sorted?
When I was a toddler, my then young uncle used to pick me up from school, prepare an evening snack for me and ensure that I started my homework by the time my parents were back from work. It was only recently that I realised that he was barely 25 when he singlehandedly babysat me and looked after his own stuff without even the mildest whine, while I mistook him to be at least 35 from his sorted disposition. And then there I was at 28, terrified to hold my newborn of 2 days in my arms because he seemed so tiny and fragile!
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Drifting Away From Those Whom You’ve Felt Close To In Your Teens
This might seem to be the saddest part of it all! What happened to all those sweet nothings we scribbled in each other’s autograph books during farewell, promising to be there for a lifetime? Well, sometimes they just remain intact between the pages that speak a million stories. Moving away from these people may not even be intentional. There might be instances when we badly miss these people and feel we need their presence, but then we slowly realise that not everyone in our lives is meant to stick around at all times. And as you hit 30, you’d finally have made peace with that notion.
Also Read: What We All Wanted to do When We Grew Up
So, what are your thoughts about turning 30?
