“Never ask a woman’s age, never ask a man’s wage,” goes the maxim. But what is age? What do learned people say about it? And why shouldn’t we ask woman’s age and man’s wage?
Many say that ‘Age’ is only a number; i) It is a number for a registered organization not to employ any one before attaining the age of 14. ii) It is an age number of 18 for a person to vote in an election, to drive a motorized vehicle on the road and to join the Armed Forces to guard Indian borders and protect Indian citizens without any distinction of caste, creed or religion. iii) It is a number required by matchmakers to lock a boy and a girl in wedlock at the legal permissible marriageable age of 20.
According to some, age is a state of mind. Therefore, everyone is as old as one feels. Age is not a barrier to fall in love or to get married. Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar, 42, who stormed into our hearts in the early ’90s, tied the knot with Mohsin Akhtar Mir, a man nine years her junior. Mogul Rupert Murdoch and ex-model Jerry Hall tied the knot at 85 and 59, respectively. At 23, corporate executive Shivya Nath left her lucrative job to live her life as a nomad, and travel the most remote corners of the world. Barbara Beskind, this spirited, ingenious lady at 91 landed her dream job at a creative firm in Silicon Valley! Today, we live in a society where age is not a number but a state of mind.
Here are some views of learned persons about ‘age’. Sociologist Shiv Visvanathan explains, “We are witnessing an elasticity of age. Women don’t want to marry early.” Psychologist Gitanjali Sharma says, “The mind doesn’t age like the body. In the mind, everybody is as old as they feel.”Legendary singer Asha Bhonsle says, “Age is a mindset. I just performed at the Woman Festival in New Zealand. I don’t think about my age. I remain young by experimenting with new things and remaining active. It makes my life worth living.”
We shouldn’t ask a woman her age because our society seems to think that growing old is some kind of failure. Maybe, women are afraid of getting old; so, they use anti-wrinkling creams and hair dyes to stop the tell-tale signs of old age or perhaps, they want to give the impression that they are young evergreen beauties.
According to me one shouldn’t ask a woman her age because some women take it as an offense; and besides that it is a personal question; and that is none of anyone’s business. It is just like asking: How much do you weigh? It is impolite, bad-mannered, and therefore, boorish to ask a women her age.
Many wonder, why shouldn’t they ever ask a man his wage?
This is because men fear that by disclosing their wage, either they will fall from the eyes of the people; or fair weather friends and legion of relatives will 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, never ask a man’s wage,” goes the maxim.
