18 'til I die

The defection of Ajit Pawar, along with 29 party MLAs, has rudely jolted Sharad Pawar. ‘This is not a googly, it’s a robbery,’ he reportedly said. Blaming the BJP for the debacle, Senior Pawar has vowed to ‘rebuild the NCP’. Well, such things do happen in politics but my question is: kahaan se aata hai yeh josh?

Some of you may recall the iconic ad – saath saal ke boodhey, ya saath saal ke jawan? The one where this oldie sprints and jumps into a BEST bus while the young chap is left behind. All thanks to Zandu Chywanprash. Well, clearly, all politicians are the prime consumers of this, or some other magic elixir!

While retired bureaucrats and scientists are sitting in nana-nani park discussing gall bladder removals, netaji is making fiery speeches. At 82, he is raring to go – not to the bank to update his passbook – but to the Lok Sabha.?Chalo, inki missis ko wo complaint to na hogi - ?ghar mein baith kar mera dimaag khaate ho!

To be fair, Pawar saheb is only 2 years older than Joe Biden, the current President of the United States, who is seeking a second term in office.?Now POTUS might have fallen asleep during a global summit or two, but so what. Let he who hasn’t caught a nap in a boring presentation make the first meme!

The crux of the matter is a Fevicol-like attachment to one’s kursi. And this can be seen not just in politics. Take any family business. ?The next generation will be sent to a fancy foreign bschool, only to return and be told that wo sab to theek hai but that’s not how we do dhandha. But kai vaando nai, the degree will still be very useful, on shaadi.com.

In days of yore, the kings of this country stepped down and headed into the forest. This was known as the next stage in life – vanaprastha. In 2023, we have barely any forests and no desire to give up creature comforts. So life is a permanent grihastha ashram. Us plebes will die wondering – ‘aaj Sangeeta bai aane waali hai, ya nahin’.

In the rarefied world, we have the shining example of Queen E. Jab tak hai jaan, main gaddi par baithoongi.?Chiranjeevi Charles and Saubhagyawati Camilla were truly patient.?But I mean, ek limit hoti hai.?At 63, Ajit Pawar is no spring chicken. As the old saying from DDLJ goes: Ja bhateejey ja, jee le apni zindagi!

They say sabar ka phal meetha hota hai, they lie.

Coz all the oldies think, ‘Imma 18 'til I die’.

The trouble is with medical advances,

They live too long and ruin our chances.

Since I can’t get myself to give a supari

Or spike their chai with a touch of curare.

I had no choice but to run away.

Isn’t it time you call it a day?