When teenage daredevil fades

I always measured my life in terms of which grade in school I was in or for the last one year which university semester.

Birthdays for me meant nothing for years and presents were quickly forgotten before the week was over.

Turning 19 last week, however, has made me re-think my usual indifference to the day I was born.

I researched a little on what I was entitled to do when I turned 19 and found there was nothing much as the year is sandwiched between two major milestones, turning 18 and 21.

Last year was something to look forward to as I got my right to vote and get a driving licence.

However, elections and holidays have gone past and with no permanent address in India, I couldn't vote and haven't yet learned to drive.

It bothered me a little but as I thought about it, I found there was no need to hurry at all.

This would be my last teenage year and as much as I would like to be an adult, I will soon be bidding farewell to a very special part of my life.

I've quit researching what new rights I will be entitled to and switched to checking out things I missed out as a teenager.

Re-reading my collection of the Harry Potter series that fascinated me when I was young and may not have the same effect a few years from now is a top priority.

Going through my massive collection of magazines and checking out the five years worth of newspaper clippings to see what interested me as a child will be yet another.

It will also be the year to sort out the huge poem collection that I have, those I collected from schoolmates when we started a poetry club in the final year of school.

It's been two years now and those who had written them would have left school and our grand plans to bring out a book are far from workable.

However, going through all the little things my friends and I tried to accomplish, the posters we put on the corridors during school events - some of which I still have - I realised what I will miss most about being a teenager is the feeling everything in world can be done if you put your heart to it.

I still share the same feeling and haven't lost much of the enthusiasm but the daredevil way I took to responsibility is slowly fading away.

I'm warming up to this new phase but if I could have my way, I would much rather join Peter Pan and his mates in Neverland where I can't be asked to grow up.

¥ Jennifer Gnana is a former Bahrain resident, now studying in Mumbai. Her family still lives here.

Copyright 2010 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group

'When teenage daredevil fades', Gulf Daily News, June 4, 2010, Jennifer Gnana