Is there an EXPIRY DATE of your charm?

I am at Udaipur as of now. The event is Golden Jubilee Celebration of RNT Medical College, Udaipur. I entered this college with the typical bewilderment of a post-pubescent young male way back in 1970s; that was the era when our existential spaces were not serenaded by the insane communicational devices. We were not having the luxury of 'sending friend request' to that bewitching beauty in the neighborhood; we used to have the only choice - to face the music in person, with no indirect references. No days were alike, no nights were similar. Our thoughts raced faster than some of the processors available these days.

Those were the times of paradisiacal joys that never came alone. The coarse appearances on the exterior were giving shelters to the brooding hopes and bludgeoning aspirations. We used to make merry as if we were the last inhabitants of this mortal world. We used to think rationally, irrationally and, at times, from the diagonal aspect as well. There was this olive oil coated voice to be served to opposite sex and those harsh swear words to be served to the denizens of male dominion, with little conscious effort.

The classes were boring as usual, compensating for the abyssal fun experienced during clinics, dinner-halls, playgrounds, lanes of Udaipur and occasional road trips. Little did I realize that, like every other medical student, I would be missing those easygoing and undemanding days for the rest of my life? Today, I feel content. I see a lot of my college folks gathered for this saturnalia. Wrinkles have appeared, crow feet have crept in, but not to replace that sparkling voodoo; someone rightly said, charm doesn’t come with an expiry date.