1: “I had no ambitions at 25 and that was probably the best thing I did to myself. At 25 I was curious. At 33 I’m interested. There’s a difference.”

2: “At 25 she will be married to a boy from our community, she can have a child at 26, there’s a right age for everything. She’s already too old.”

3: “By the time I was 25 I had had three children and one miscarriage. I was tired.”

4: “I don’t have a birth certificate, I don’t know how old I am, I could be anything. 25, 35, 12…”

5: “I remember being 22. Nothing significant happened at 25. Who was the Prime Minister? Was emergency declared? Raghu, do you remember?”

6: “I hope there’s water in the world by then.”

7: “What’s this for?”

8: “At 25 you’re part woman, part child, but more woman than child. The child retreats by then, but peeks out when you’re older. My mother is a child now. Everything reverses. But yes, at 25, you’re more woman than child.”

9: “I liked strange men at 25, men who didn’t care. Men who seemed remote, men I wanted to care for, men I felt the need to change. Project men, dusty files that must be approached with caution and nursed back into normalcy. Now I like sensitive men, projects are exhausting. 30s are wiser, I’m far more careful.”

10: “I’ve always wanted people to gather in a dark room at home and when I open the door, spring up screaming and surprise me with cakes, candles, gifts, booze. Everything. So every birthday I open the door with a prepared face, one that could look surprised if required. But umm…maybe you need to date someone special to throw you those sorts of parties. At 25 I threw myself a party like every other year of adulthood. I’m still waiting to be surprised.”

11: “25 to me is a kanjeevaram sari, in ramar blue. Ramar blue? Like the colour of Rama’s skin…I still have it with me, a gift from my late husband. A pattern of parrots is woven into the border in gold, it’s a broad border, suits tall women, I am quite tall, so it’s perfect for me.”

12: “It’s coming up next year, five years away from 30, 30 is the big one, no?”

13: “I got my first I-pod… what a waste.”

14: “At 67, all your twenties are a big clump, 25 isn’t different from 28. 23 could be 27. I just know that I was beautiful then. People would say Mala you look like actress Sadhana. She comes in ‘Love in Simla’. I also had a fringe like her, ‘Sadhana cut’ they called it, maybe that’s why.”

15: “We were posted in Aizawl, I had your brother then. You father was away on exercise, people were unhappy, they killed someone and hung his body from a tree as warning. But you know what I was afraid of? An iguana on the roof. I was alone, with a little son in a land where no one wanted us, with an iguana on the roof.”

16: “Shaadi kara di meri…”

17: “It was a great year for me, I started a small business, went to Africa, I remember seeing a hyena and the best sunset of my life.”

18: “I think women are prettiest at 25.”

19: “I got my first grey at 25, it came with my first born. I think of it as a blessing.”

20: “When I was 25, we wrote letters to lovers, pressed flowers into books, wore chiffon and pearls, Yardley talcum powder from England, danced in the gymkhana, drank wine in secret, made cake from Anglo-Indian cookbooks and made trunk calls…you know what those are? People shouted into their telephones so much.”

21: “As a young bride I didn’t know how to cook, even my cook who came with me from my mother’s home, didn’t know how to cook. I was the estate manager’s wife and we had to throw elaborate lunches for people, plantation owners, club members, other estate managers. My mother would send recipes in letters then…. Chicken Ghee Roast (serves four), the proportions were always wrong, but we had fun somehow.”

22: “I met a nice guy and everything, but I was confused about my sexuality. I told him I like women and he was actually quite supportive. I have been so much happier since then. 25 was a confusing time for me, I wouldn’t want to go back, but it also made me realise who I am, so it was an important time, very much so right?”

23: “There was no Tinder then. Online dating started a year after I got married, can you imagine, did I miss out on something? We always wonder…my husband and I. Did we get married too early?”

24: “Girls today have everything at 25, we were told, you should be seen not heard. And look at me, how did I manage? I’ve always had a loud laugh.”

25: “I can’t wait.”