Throw them the mightiest of challenges, show them the scariest of movies, take them on the ride of their life or push them into the murkiest of dungeons. They aren’t the sorts who can’t find their way. They don’t care much for comfort zones and they’re willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Love or lust, work or worship, they’re capable of conquering it all. 

Except, of course, when it comes to turning 30. 

For the youth of today, age is just a number but, somehow, turning three decades old is the end of the line. 

Why is there such a premium on age?

Fresh out of college with eyes filled with excitement, are we really the sanest of people? Back then, life is just black and white. There’s so much one wants to accomplish and the possibilities are endless. However, the next few years don’t really paint a particularly rosy picture, right?

Endless academic pressure, excessive competition for jobs, heartbreaks, canned Goa trips, there’s a lot that life brings and most of it isn’t as we’d planned. But then, who said life was going to be easy!

Think about it – how much can you really accomplish by 30? Considering the average Indian wraps up studies not before 22-23, isn’t it blatantly unfair to expect those pour souls to somehow get their lives in order in the next 6-7 years?

Actually, the moment you start making some money, you should spend some time trying to figure out yourself. Try out different jobs, experiment, fall in love, travel, do all it takes for you to nourish your mind, body and soul. 

The world would anyway want to put you in a box, eventually, so might as well use this time to break all barriers and counter all stereotypes. 

Take it from someone who’s not too many months away from turning the big three O – it isn’t such a bad view after all!

Before you’re even done deciphering the newest wonder from the world of technology, there’s a new gift waiting to be enveloped. By the time you’ve taken that one fabulous holiday you’ve long dreamt about, a zillion other cities become the ‘next big travel destination’. When you’ve just about achieved the salary figure adept to get you some kind of social status, there’s news about some candidate with a few more extra zeroes in his bank balance. 

Basically, you’re f*cked. All those plans you’d made in school and college? By the time you’d turn 25, you’d have bought that swanky car. By 27, you’d have had a home of your own and by 29, you would’ve been happily married. Remember those dreams filled with innocence and naivety? They’re just that. Dreams that never turned into reality. Because while you were looking at the world with rose-tinted glasses, somewhere along the way, life happened!

By the time you turn 25, forget the swanky car, you can barely pay your monthly bills. By 27, forget buying a house, you can just about buy an iPhone. And by 29, you’ve got your heart broken, yet again, and marriage is still a distant dream. 

Basically, your 20s aren’t the time for you to make it. Or, to die trying. It’s the decade of indulgence. Have fun, experiment and eventually, find your calling. Get all the chinks in your armour because on the other side of 30, the true test of life shall begin. 

Who said turning 30 is the end of life? By the time you’ve turned 30, life has just about started playing its games!