So old... So soon?

Appa, you always don’t have to dress up in your 70’s clothes every time you watch the ‘angry young man’ movies!

You’re driving along a typical Chennai road, delicately avoiding potholes, garbage piles, and chunks of humanity apparently determined to fling themselves under your specific vehicle – when you see it.

A huge poster announcing that the Go-to-Theatre from your youth is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

“40th?!!”

Your eyes register the number, but your mind (and heart) go numb in shock.

40 years?

Surely it can’t be that long since everybody was kung fu fighting; since Veeru and Jai hunted down one of the best Bad Guys ever to menace the Indian screen; and an almost-too-cute-to-be-true orphan lisped: ‘Please, Sir, I want some more’ – instantly spawning an entire generation of kids who drove their parents nuts by deliberately using this line for days after seeing the movie.

Seems like only yesterday when you smiled in indulgent superiority when your mother gushed over some chick doing a major ‘drum dance’.

40 years?!

Sad, eh?

When former Easy Riders suffer chronic bad backs, when those who once nonchalantly tripped on acid now find themselves totally antacid-dependent, and no one remembers that ultimate luxury... the Balcony ticket. (Cost Rs. 3.50).

The gift of Life comes with one condition... the aging process.

Who says the Universe doesn’t have a sense of humour?