WEB CHUTNEY

It is your 23rd birthday. You are excited and ready to venture into adult life. And that’s when it happens. Reality hits you. Like a rock. Pending bills, failed relationships and married friends - this was not what you were anticipating. This roller coaster ride sure gives you an adrenaline rush, but sitting at the edge of the seat also leaves you scared. Even though most of us have some of our best memories from when we were 23, it is not a rosy ride. 23 is perhaps the most testing year of one’s life. Here’s why:

1. You feel like a kid stuck in an adult’s body.

2. You are expected to behave in a responsible way when you clearly don’t have your shit together.

3. Your friends are getting married, when you are still trying to figure out how to eat without spilling.

4. Your love life is a mess.

Just when you think you have found the one, boom. That’s the sound of your heart exploding!

5. You cannot depend on your parents anymore and have to earn EVERYTHING.

6. Bills make it worse.

Safaiwaala, bartanwaala, bijliwaala, internet bills, phone bills - they just don’t end.

7. Because of which you’re always broke!

8. You hear about kids discovering new things and wonder when you’ll get there

9. Sometimes you feel all you want is a good job and you’ll be happy. Until you realise that a good job doesn’t exist.

10. Other times, you think of quitting adult life and going back to studying.

Wasn’t college life so much easier?

11. You have never been more confused about your life decisions as you are now.

Where to go? What to choose? What to wear? It’s all a huge mystery.

12. Your parents have never understood you better. LOL. JK.

Your parents disapprove of everything you do. It’s not always “Jaa Simran jaa, jeele apni zindagi” in real life.

13. All you want to do is travel and explore the world, but all that you are forced to do is work a monotonous job.

14. You have no idea who your real friends are.

You have to socialise even if you don’t want to.

15. You realise that your whole life has been a lie.

Complete your degree, get a job and life will be settled, my foot!

16. You are nowhere close to the ‘plan’.

Still not settled and aren’t very likely to be in the next couple of years - say hello to the real world!

17. Everybody expects you to know how to get your bank work done and pay bills, but nobody actually tells you how to do it.

18. You not only have to earn for yourself, but are also expected to pay tax.

FBR? NTN? What? You don’t know squat about that.

19. Your home is a mess and you still struggle to keep your room clean.

20. Your parents want you to settle while you are nowhere close to that.

21. Relatives are always after you to get married.

Weddings are a nightmare. Annoying distant relatives always trying to hook you up with Phupho ka ladka/ladki.

22. People say act your age, and you have no idea what that means.

Are you supposed to be all serious and mature, or cheerful and real?

23. There are too many transitions and you just cannot cope with all of them.

The struggle is real.

Despite being all that, 23 is also the most eventful year of your life. Problems come and go, but you won’t be 23 every year. Make sure you make the most of it!