Years apart, yet together

Manpriya Singh 

It was last-to-last year that Mick Jaggers had a baby boy with half-his-age girlfriend Melanie Hamrick; the news that trickled along with speculations over the shelf life of their relationship. He is 74 and she is 31! Proving everyone off beam, it was last-to-last month that the couple checked into Poland, with their one-year-old in tow for some family time. If the iconic rocker can be busy jet-setting for the Rolling Stones’ No Filter tour like a youngster, he can date like in the olden days too.

Age is just a number. The clichéd phrase that didn’t quite immediately sink in when the Bigg Boss house threw open yet another couple in the closet; that of 65-year-old Anup Jalota and 28-year-old Jasleen Matharu! 

While the trollers have a field day and Jasleen’s father raises a strong objection to his daughter’s dating choice, we take a look at the couples with a humongous age gap and psychology at play. From Kabir Bedi and Parveen Dusanjh to Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher… the list is endless. 

Old & young

Starting with, of course, our very own unique case study of a nawab, Saif Ali Khan, who went in for a 12-year-elder Amrita Singh and later went in a for an 11-year-younger Kareena Kapoor. Talk of opposites attracting! These aren’t the only popular couple with more than a decade gap. Don’t we know the popular remark by Mira and Shahid wherein Mira questions Shahid, “Why would you like to marry somebody so much younger than you?” 

Decade game

Decade is not even a shocking number anymore. A fact that over 50 Milind Soman reminded one and all as the news of his engagement to a 34-year-younger Ankita Konwar broke on the net. For any girl who hit the teens in her 90s, Milind Soman makes perfect sense. But not to Indian families, relatives, neighbours…you get the picture! Just as trollers hit their respective social media accounts, Milind popularly questioned, “What’s wrong with a 34 year age gap?” Looking at the two of them, nothing really!  

Psychological mix

The latest couple with a significant age-gap is Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra. With a reverse age gap, an older woman and a younger man, which we don’t get to see as often! Is there any psychology at play? Psychologist Rabinder Singh, from Chandigarh Counseling Centre, simply likens it to one of the several selection criteria that woman have. “Women have a very complex selection criteria and age is just a number in that. Women look at identifying males they can select, train and stay with them for the rest of their lives.” But there is no denying the traits preferred by one gender and found in a certain age group. Opines Dr Vandana Raghuvanshi, psychologist at Mind Wave, Chandigarh, “Women definitely look for security, adjustability, which they are more likely to find in elder men. Elder men are more likely to pamper them, be more patient and better listeners.” On the other side, “Men who go in for elder women are attracted to their maturity levels and understanding. Younger girls are likely to be more clingy and demanding.” She adds, “Such couples never face problems during the first five to six years of their marriage, but it is only later that the differences crop up,” she cites from her personal experience as a counselor. 

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