Photoshoot at 60? Why not!

Tuck that tummy in! Get that chest out! Straighten that chin! Well, that will do for the moment. So, who says men between 50 and 70 cannot have a 'decent' figure and wear fancy outfits and even queue up for photoshoots for the Daily Star Eid Fashion Magazine! Of course they can. Well, at least they believe they can! 

But alas!  It is not to be so. We hear giggles all around the photo studio! It's the gang of youngsters at the studio. We are mortified hearing comments like, "Look at that bhuri (bulging tummy)!", "Look at that double chin!","Look at the bags under the eye!".  In desperation we appeal to the Editor of Daily Star Eid Fashion Magazine for a chance at the photoshoot.  She looks at us but she thinks that with the photos of the ageing 'bhuriwalas' her magazine will be a disaster! Customers will not buy them. She however sympathised with our bulging midriff and sagging chins and drooping eyelids.  The gregarious gang pointed at the pouches under our eyes and giggled away.  What insolence! 

Heartbroken we came back to our club and had a serious meeting. We looked at the mirror to study the touch of silver, pouches and pot bellies and all the other blemishes that disqualified us at the Daily Star photoshoot.

But, no, something has to be done about it. We have to prove them wrong! We decided to arrange for a separate photoshoot next year before the Eid Fashion Magazine and send the photos to the Editor for consideration.  We are sure she will not be able to believe her eyes. We are sure she will ask her giggling gang to get in touch with us and invite us to her studio. 

And thus we have started to run and pant, swim and wheeze, and pump iron and faint. It is a desperate bid…a do or die situation for the silver generation. We must find space in that Eid Fashion Magazine next year and then die happily ever after.

By Shahnoor Wahid