An Age-Old Question

One often hears that in India we venerate age and the wisdom that comes with experience, whereas America and Europe have youth-centric cultures. Indeed, a frequently levelled criticism against Indian science is that its systems have been set up so as to favour the senior most citizens. While I agree that in India we seem to be obsessed with dates of birth, I feel that it is the youth we worship, not maturity. What matters is not just what one achieves, but the age at which one achieves it: the younger, the better. Does not each and every one of us know of dozens of cases where parents have faked their children's dates of birth, so as to sneak their kids into school at an age earlier than that mandated by the rules? Do we not place matrimonial ads reading: 'Seeking match for girl, 29, looks 21...'? Are not all of us fascinated by child prodigies? Are not our newspapers and record books full of admiring reports of the youngest ever chess grandmaster, the youngest ever to climb a Himalayan peak, to obtain a Ph D and so on?.