what's in a number ?

Recently, a kid came up to me in a library hands tied behind his back, and said “HI! I am Jigar. What’s your name? “Before I could come up with a reply (my name)... I was stunned by the way he spoke... so seemingly confident with himself and the way he went up to each and every person there to introduce himself and chat with them with an ease and charm that I m sorry to say even some of my batch mates find hard to exude. It is then that it struck me that how we conduct ourselves, how we interact and how we think is not a reflection of what our age is but it is actually vice versa. Ok, how do we define age? The number of years since we are born... Right?? It is just simple mathematics and a tool to keep track of the time of our existence. It’s just a number. Shakespeare said what’s in a name? I say what’s in a number? That is one kind of age. The other kind, which is actually overlooked (a lot) in our society, is the mental age or the social age. These two terms are interchangeable as one affects the other. This is actually based on our journey since our birth... How much we know, how much do we understand and how do we carry ourselves. There are people who are still kids at heart not because they like having fun but because most of the times they are unaware of what is actually going on around them and how it is going to affect them. Similarly, there are people who might be considered kids because of their “age” but know and understand a lot than their peers. My point being that just because it’s been twenty five years since somebody was born doesn’t make them an adult and just because somebody was born a bit late they don’t have to remain a kid for a longer time just to suit the norms of the society and the people around them. We age when we take decisions and stick to them, we age whenever we learn new things, have new experiences! In other words, we grow up when we face the world on our own; understand what who we are and what we want. It is time now that this age starts deciding who is a kid and who is not and our society enjoys seeing the kids growing up in this way.