I have been suddenly and acutely made aware of my age today, at the most unlikely place called the Commercial Street, Bangalore.

When I was younger, I used to watch my Grandma and older aunts carefully manoeuvre their way down staircases, taking every precaution available to them with their hands and body, taking one step at a time to ensure that they do not have a landing quicker than they wanted. I would have bounced down the steps and would be watching from below.

When I visited Mumbai last month, as I was going down a long series of steps with my hand baggage, I slipped at the smooth corner of one step and went merrily sailing down the next five or six, and came to a halt on my back, at a 45 deg inclination to the Earth. The people around looked duly shocked and concerned (I wonder how many chuckled in their mind seeing my flight) and I reassured them with a smile that I was fine.
My cousin who was with me asked, “Which part got hit?”
“None. It was a smooth landing”, I replied.
“I will ask you again after a day”, he said.

Sure enough, a day later I could feel slight bruisy sensations here and there, but they faded after a few days. Since then I have been wary of steps, with or without smooth edges.

And today imagine me carefully holding the railings and coming down the steps of a shop at Comm Street, one at a time…
Boy, am I there so early?!