“Never ask a woman’s age, never ask a man’s wage,” goes the maxim. Why? And what is age?
After all we all know the truth that age is only an acceptable number; (a) for a registered organisation not to employ any one before attaining the age of 14; (b) for a person to vote in an election at the age of 18; to get a licence to drive a motorised vehicle on the road; also age limit to join for employment and for retirement; to join the armed forces to guard Indian boarders and protect Indian citizens without any distinction of caste, creed or religion. (c) It is a number required by matchmakers to lock a boy and a girl in wedlock at the legal permissible marriageable age of 20.
But the unofficial attitude in India you are as old — or as young — as what you do. Juveniles who commit acts of criminal violence must be made to accept the responsibility for their actions and be made to pay the price for them. If you are old enough to commit an ‘adult’ crime like rape, you are old enough to face adult punishment.
As each day rolls by, the effect of creeping age on our body is to pass through all the life’s stages namely, childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age and old age and finally death. Body has age, but the soul is ageless.
But age isn’t a number for the thinking mind; one may be 16 or 60, one’s thoughts run on the same things as before — going to gyms, nightclubs, travelling, taking dance lessons, etc. Psychologist Gitanjali Sharma says, “The mind doesn’t age like the body. In the mind, everybody is as old as they feel.” Abraham Lincoln said that it is not how long we are here, but rather how well we live this life here on earth.
Many say, women do not like to tell their advanced age, so, they always lower their age perhaps because they always want to give the impression that they are young beauties. Therefore, they use lots of money on cosmetics, anti-wrinkling creams and hair dyes to delay the tell-tale signs of growing old. Although, the fact is that, ageing is not a disease to be cured with anti-wrinkle cream, injection or plastic surgery.
According to me one shouldn’t ask a woman her age because some women take it as an offence. It is impolite, bad-mannered, and therefore, boorish to ask a women her age. It is just like asking a thin or a fat person in public; “How much do you weigh?” Some say, people ask a woman her age at a birthday gathering, perhaps, because the birthday woman though old, looks younger than the person who asks her age; and therefore, is jealous of her and poisons the happy birthday gathering atmosphere by asking her age.
Many wonder, why shouldn’t they ask a man his wage? This is because men fear that by disclosing their wage, either they will fall from the eyes of their social contact or fair weather friends or they fear that many may ask him for financial help and eat him not physically, but financially.
A man’s wage is thought as his worth and a women’s age is considered as her attraction. Therefore, “Never ask a woman’s age and never ask a man’s wage.”
