Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless…

Two hundred years ago, with these beautiful lines, John Keats celebrated the abundance, ripeness and maturity that autumn brings. It’s the same with the seasons of life. As the decades roll, we gather gifts, and we slough off what’s no longer needed. But ageing is often associated with a loss, a lack of ability and strength. When combined with sexuality, in the popular imagination, fed especially by market forces, youth is to be lauded and ageing regarded as the impending horror that must be evaded for as long as possible.

Ageing is a function of time, nothing more, nothing less. It is a season in our lives, and quite like any other, has its own unique characteristics. Keats begins the last stanza of ‘To Autumn’ with,

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them – thou hast thy music too…

And so, this time, instead of a regular interview, Shikha Aleya reached out to a group of respondents to individually reflect on and share what came to mind and heart when they thought of ageing and sexuality. The result, delightfully, is less like disparate reflections, and their voices, even though they don’t know each other, speak unsparingly of their unique experiences and insights and meld into an intimate conversation amongst old friends looking back and forwards.

In the sixth decade of her life, Nighat Gandhi, makes marmalade from sour oranges, both literally and metaphorically as she examines the consequences of being born female in a patriarchal world. “What makes a woman?” she asks. And with age, and assiduously scraping away the accumulated debris of patriarchy, she spins gold from straw, reclaiming her sexuality and spirituality.

With customary openness, Asmi recounts being twenty-two when she first arrived in the city of Delhi. Now fifteen years later, she has traversed the variegated landscape of sexuality. Building on her experiences, she asks what age really is. Is it just a number? Is it stepping into our power and fighting back? Is it truly measurable in the years we have lived or is it an ongoing journey?