There was a time when attraction was simple.
A smile on screen.
A face that stayed in mind.
Crushes that felt real, even if they were distant.
For me, it was names like Raveena Tandon, Bhanu Priya, Simran… they weren’t just actresses, they were emotions of a phase. That phase where life was light, uncomplicated, and filled with small excitements.
Today, something has changed.
Not suddenly. Not dramatically.
But quietly… almost invisibly.
Those things don’t pull me anymore.
And that’s when it hits me —
age doesn’t just add years, it slowly takes away what once mattered.
Friendships too have changed.
Not broken.
Not ended.
Just… distanced.
We still care. We still remember.
But access is gone.
Between children, responsibilities, work, and survival, the space to just “be there” for each other has shrunk.
Earlier, a call meant hours.
Now, even a message waits.
It’s not lack of love.
It’s lack of life bandwidth.
And then comes experience.
The good ones make us smile.
But it’s the not-so-good ones that leave a mark.
Failures. Betrayals. Loss.
Moments where reality hits harder than expectation.
Those are the moments that shape us.
Not gently.
But forcefully.
They start changing how we think…
How we react…
How we trust…
Slowly, piece by piece,
they rebuild us into someone new.
Sometimes I wonder…
Am I becoming better?
Or just becoming different?
Because the person I am today
is not the same kid,
not the same teenager,
not even the same man I thought I would be.
And that realization is both powerful… and uncomfortable.
Age doesn’t just grow us.
It filters us.
It removes illusions.
It reduces noise.
It reshapes identity.
And sometimes…
it quietly takes over who we once were.
But maybe that’s the point.
Maybe life is not about holding on to who we were.
Maybe it’s about accepting
who we are becoming.
AnandNataraj 