Hey Kiddo

I recently visited my Dentist for a dental clean. I wish I did not make that visit. The doctor visits me and says 'Hey Kiddo Sit down here'. At first, I thought I did not hear well. She must have said something in her accent that I could not understand or did not know.

People have said to me that I look younger than I am. I have frequently been asked what school am I going to or Do I go to school. I would be flattered sometimes and disgusted sometimes depending on who asks it and how, but mostly it was the former. Who does not want to feel young? Not me for one.

All that self flattery vanished when my dentist called me again 'Turn your head this side KIDDO'. This time I could not have missed it. At first I thought she was playing. But her demeanor did not suggest so from what I can say as good a judge of demeanor I am. I have always wanted to say something funny with my doctor like Nag says to the Doctor on his hospital bed 'Will you marry me' in the movie ‘Geethanjali’. That movie and that dialogue have left a lasting impression on me when in teens. I definitely cannot say that now. She thinks I am a kid. Has she gone blind or something? Did she not notice my receding hairline? (On any other circumstance I would highly prefer anyone not noticing it).

I came out of her office in pain both mentally and physically. Physically because of the numbness from injecting the anesthesia in my cheeks that they did with 4 injections. And mentally because the world thinks that I am a kid. I began thinking nobody takes me seriously at home or at work. I believe that is why no suggestions of mine were considered in our team meetings despite their genuine greatness.

Had I looked older, I am lead to believe, everything else would fall in place. Oh my GOD! What am I to do, March Madness and NBA playoff are here and I need to concentrate on the scores. The leaking dish washer, that my wife asks me to look at, can wait and so can the smelling trash can. I digress into other domestic stuff. So I revert back to the original rant.

I wish to be in my Dad's shoes. He was on the other side of the window that I am in now for as long as I think of. He had premature hair graying. He was called uncle by people elder to him. He has finally reached a stage where he looks his age.
But his younger years were filled with such instances daily where people mistook him for 20-30 years older than he really is. He would always take it laughingly and would say what does it matter, everybody has to become old once, I only look old now and will be old soon enough. It was fine by him, but not to me. I even took up his cause against a 40 year old Marwadi airhead who called my 38 year old Dad 'Dadaji'.

After all that, when the world thinks I am young (in fact a kid), I wish I was in his shoes. So that night, I told my wife the story as to what happened. She said 'Don't worry. How does it matter what the world thinks. You cannot stop them. All that matters is what you perceive of yourself' and I began to feel better. I makes sense right. But wait a minute, did she say that because that she considers me a am kid too. NOOOOOOOOOO...