Ageing
We are all moving through time, yet we rarely feel its weight in our daily routine. It’s only on milestones like birthdays that reality dawns — “Oh, I turned 35… Oh, I turned 40…” But in the rush of everyday life, we rarely notice how each passing day inches us closer to old age.
Some people embrace it, others fear it. Some live in the moment, others stay in the past or worry about the future. But regardless of how we choose to live, the truth remains – “time is slipping away, unbothered by our feelings about it”.
What exists today may not exist tomorrow. The moment we are experiencing now will never return. That’s why we must live fully, cherish every second, and embrace life wholeheartedly. As Shah Rukh Khan once said, “Kya pta kal ho na ho?” (Who knows if tomorrow will even come?)
We sometimes reflect on aging in relation to ourselves but quickly move on. However, when it comes to our parents, the thought lingers, stuck in our hearts. We push it aside, distracting ourselves, yet deep down, we know we are merely running from an undeniable truth.
They are aging faster than we are.
The mother whose face once had glow of youth, now bears gentle wrinkles. The mother who never forgot a thing, now struggles to remember. The mother who tirelessly managed the home, now gets exhausted more quickly. The one who walked with energy, now moves a little slower.
And then, there’s our father.
The same man who once took cold showers at dawn without flinching, now wraps himself in a muffler to shield against the chill. The man who woke up the entire house with his firm yet affectionate voice, urging us to witness the sunrise, now rises a little later himself.
If we ever used hot water, he’d say, “It’s not even that cold! Take a cold shower, it keeps you strong!” He worked tirelessly from morning till night, yet always returned home with energy, carrying fresh fruits and surprise treats for us. But time changes everything.
Now, he catches colds more often. As children, we never noticed him falling sick, but now we see it all. His body is weakening, his bones ache. Fatigue sets in more quickly. The hands which once seemed so strong in our childhood, holding piles of flower petals, now show visible veins, and the skin has wrinkled with passing time. But today, after just a few hours of work, we find ourselves drained, burdened with stress and exhaustion. Comparing ourselves to them feels almost unfair. They were physically stronger, more resilient. Their endurance feels unmatched. They never needed a gym, yet they were fitter than we are. No matter the pressure they faced, they never let it show at home.
This is aging. It happens every single day, yet we rarely stop to notice it.
The present moment so fleeting, so precious, who knows when it will slip away forever? We can’t stop aging. We can’t rewind time. But we can choose to live fully, love deeply, and cherish those who matter most.
In the end, all that remains are memories. The things we put off for later often stay left behind, lost in time’s ever-moving tide.
So whatever you want to do, do it now. Whatever you want to say, say it now.
Whatever you want to feel, feel it now.
Because time is limited. And once it’s gone, it never comes back.
