How Old Are You?

When I signed up with Blogspot two months ago, I mentioned my correct date of birth. I even put up a picture of myself, taken by me, with a webcam. The profile page showed my age as 34. I was rather pleased, because I had turned 34 in December 2004, and when I signed up with Blogspot in October 2005, I was expecting them to take those 10 months into account. The figure remained 34 even on the evening of my 35th birthday and, for a moment, I thought I was going to be 34 forever.

But after I had seen off all the guests who came for the birthday party I clicked on my Blogger profile out of curiosity. I found my age showing, suddenly, as 35! Techonology, obviously, makes its own calculations once you have stated a certain date of birth.

But there are areas where technology fails. And that's the heartening bit. For example, the picture of mine that I've put up on the blog was taken when I was 34. Then one day I turn 35. The next year I turn 36. And four years later I turn 40. Is technology capable of automatically subtracting from the existing hair on my head or adding to the grey on it in accordance with the passing years? Is it capable of adding, on its own, a few wrinkles to my face just the way it would add years to my age? The answer is 'no'.

The moral of the story? No matter what your age is, you can be as old as you want to look. Just the way you can be as old as you want to feel.