Turning Eighteen

	There are some landmarks in one’s life that are of utmost importance - 
	the first day of school, turning ten years old (imagine being a whole 
	decade old!), graduating from school, and finally, turning eighteen. 
	The words eighteenth birthday have some sort of magical effect on most 
	teenagers. It means the transition from the wonder years of teenhood, 
	to the exciting years of adulthood.

	What’s so special about eighteen, you ask. It’s just another birthday, 
	after all. Well, let me tell you some of the things eighteen stands 
	for :
	
	It stands for being able to drive. It means not having to ask everyday, 
	"What time can you pick me up?"; it means not being at the receiving 
	end of the whims and vagaries of the sullen autodrivers, who know 
	where they want to go, and get quite upset when you want to go in 
	the other direction; it means not standing on one foot, and looking 
	desperately for light and air in a bus that contains just about as 
	many people as Australia does! No, it means freedom. Eighteen means 
	being old enough to drive, and finally being in control.
	
	It stands for becoming a person - someone of importance, and no 
	longer ‘just a kid’. Being eighteen means being able to vote. Of 
	course, now the question arises - do we really want to vote? Voting 
	means being, to some extent, responsible for whoever is up there 
	in Delhi, creating chaos. Up until now, we could look upon the 
	shenanigans at the Centre and States with a smug smile and say, 
	"We didn’t vote for them. We’re not responsible for what you 
	unthinking adults do!"
	
	Eighteen means being given your own set of keys to the front door 
	of the house. This means that you are now officially an adult, able 
	to come and go as you please. Of course, that still doesn’t mean 
	your parents won’t wait up for you and chew you out for coming 
	home late, but then, becoming an adult has nothing to do with 
	being scolded by your parents. You could be seventy going on 
	seventy - one, with dentures in your mouth, and a misplaced 
	pair of bifocals somewhere, and your parents would still be 
	telling you off for going out without a sweater, or skipping lunch!
	
	But if eighteen means parties and celebrations, drivers’ licenses, 
	and the right to swagger into the local pub, it also means 
	responsibility and adulthood. It means being in charge, and in 
	control, but sometimes it seems so much easier to let someone else, 
	like your parents, do all the leading. Sometimes it’s so much easier 
	to let someone else make all the decisions , and take all the 
	accountability for them. It means that from now onwards, you’re 
	going to be treated equally with everyone else - there are going 
	to be no more special considerations, as in the case of a child.
	
	Turning eighteen has a very special significance in everyone’s life. 
	It’s interesting, it’s eventful, it’s exciting, and it’s more than a 
	little intimidating.
		
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	© 1997 Maya Chandrasekaran. Maya is an 18 year college student in 
	Banglore, India. Her first novel was published when she
	was 13. Since then, she has four novels and numerous articles 
	to her credit.'
	
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