It's September, my birthday month and I should be buzzing with excitement, because obvs. But this time my birthday falls on a Sunday, which also happens to be Anant Chaturdashi, the day my street will be flooded with crowds going for Ganpati visarjan to the beach. Also, it's the 2nd time it's happening during, um, wait, what was it, oh yes, A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
And as if that weren't enough, this is the year I turn 40.
But hey, that can only be good news at this point.
I mean, it's a really rough time to be young in this world. Just a couple of days ago The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook knows that Instagram is toxic for teenagers. That it is fully aware that being bombarded with images of perfect beauty and lifestyle influencers is negatively impacting the mental health of these young people, making them need therapy to resolve their mental health issues. And that Zuckerberg & Co. have decided meh, who gives a shit. So yeah, fun times all round for Gen Z.
It's also, a really good time for a woman to be 40. Because, as various people on Twitter pointed out, that's the age Mrs. Bennet was in Pride & Prejudice. And she had hardly any money of her own, not to mention five daughters to get off her hands before her husband - who clearly did not give a single fuck about what happened to his offspring after he popped it - fell dead. That's A LOT to deal with.
Pookie, with all the confidence of her 7 years, reliably informs me that she has no intention to get married and Rook is pretty responsible - like, I don't see him call a man who practically ruined his youngest idiot daughter, his "favourite son-in-law" - so I'm relatively stress-free on that account.
And then, there's the biggest thing to be thankful about - I am not an actress. In Hollywood or Bollywood. I don't belong to an industry that offered Meryl Streep - MERYL STREEP - three witch roles in a single year, the year she turned 40. No, I am a writer, of advertisements and books, which means as long as I can keep making stuff up from nothing, I can keep working.
I can keep writing stuff like this, and this and this and stuff that's nothing like any of them, but still fun. For me to write, for you to read and God willing for some generous OTT platform to make into a web series. Meanwhile, I will be spending this weekend with good food, decent wine, my loving family and my work-in-progress. Not necessarily in that order.
(PS: It's not going to be anything out of the The Great Gatsby and THANK GOD for that.)
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