Law
❖ In many countries, including India, the legal age of adulthood is 18. At 18, Indians can vote, get a driver's licence and women can get married. Men need to wait till they are 21.
Sports
❖Golf- 18 is standard number of holes on a golf course. This tradition originated in Scotland during the 18th century at Scotland’s Old Course, considered the oldest golf course in the world. Professional tournaments now follow the 18-hole format.
❖ Cricket- In any international match featuring India, the maximum number of fans in any stadium in the country turn up in jersey number 18. The same holds when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) play in the Indian Premier League, often in case of their away matches too.
Ever since he made his international debut in 2008, Virat Kohli has worn jersey number 18 for India and for RCB. “To be honest, 18 started off as being just a number that was given to me when I first opened that India U19 jersey with my name and number on the back. But it ended up becoming a very very important number in my life. I made my India debut on 18 August . My father also died on 18 December, 2006. Two of the most significant moments of my life happened to be on 18th. Even though I got the number before that, there seems to be a cosmic connection with this date,” Kohli has said.
Entertainment
❖ Films: Coming of age at 18 is a recurring trope in lyrics, especially of film songs. The most famous is Sixteen going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music in which Rolf, who is “seventeen going on eighteen”, tells Liesl “You need someone older and wiser, Telling you what to do” and offers to “take care of you”. The song, composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and sung by Charmian Carr and Dan Truhitte, was filmed in and around a gazebo which is still visited by tourists doing The Sound of Music tours around Salzburg though the gazebo interiors were filmed in Hollywood.
Closer home, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha danced to Atharaa baras ki tu in the movie Suhaag (1979), lip synchronising to Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar respectively.
Lesser known numbers include Alka Yagnik singing Main athara baras ki ho gayee with Udit Narayan as Mamta Kulkarni gyrated on screen with Rishikesh in the film Dilbar\
Alka has also sung another 18-year-old's song in Main ho gayi athara saal ki with Ila Arun in a song from the film Bandish that clearly tries to recreate the Choli ke peeche magic. The 1996 song, composed by Anand-Milind, was filmed on Shilpa Shirodkar, Jackie Shroff and Paresh Rawal.
❖ Music: In Bengal, Arati Mukherjee reached the top of the charts with her rendition of Bappi Lahiri’s composition Tokhon tomar ekush bochhor bodh hoy/ Ami tokhon ashtadoshir chhoyay.
❖ 18 Til I Die was a 1996 hit by Canadian singer Bryan Adams. The song, about staying young at heart, was written by Adams when he was about 36 years old and he sang “Someday I'll be 18 goin’ on 55.” The song with a catchy melody and positive message topped charts and reminded fans of Adams’ cult song Summer of '69.
❖ Android 18 is a character from the popular Japanese manga series Dragon Ball. She is a powerful fighter, praised for being the sole female character to physically compete with the male cast. She is an especially popular subject for cosplay activities where Dragon Ball fans dress up as characters.
❖ 18 was a 2014 teenage romance song by English Irish boy band One Direction. Released on their fourth studio album Four, the song reflects on the bittersweet memories of a couple who had felled in love when they were 18. The number was co-written by singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran of Shape of You fame.
Literature
❖ The Eighteen Greater Texts and Eighteen Lesser Texts are two collections of Tamil Sangam literature. The greater texts are considered to be the oldest surviving Tamil poetry, while the lesser texts were created between 100 and 500 BC. The poetry includes works by numerous poets on topics like love, war and philosophy.
❖ Sukanta Bhattacharya penned some immortal lines on what it means to be 18 — Athero bochhor boyesh ki duhshoho/ Spordhay nyay matha tolbar jhuki... The young poet passed away at the age of 20, three months before India became free.
Religion
❖ The Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters. It is part of The Mahabharata, which itself has 18 parvas (divisions). The Kurukshetra War, that is central to the book, is fought between 18 armies (11 on the Kuru side, seven on the Pandava). The war too lasts 18 days.
❖Jews often make donations to charities and make monetary gifts at weddings in denominations of 18. This is because in Judaism, the number 18 is considered a symbol of good luck and associated with the Hebrew word meaning “life”.
Science
❖ In chemistry, Group 18 elements are noble gases, including the likes of helium, neon and argon. They are all odorless, colourless, chemically inert and stable, making them perfect for use in lights, lasers and other applications.
Transport
❖ An 18-wheeler is a vehicle that has a semi-trailer attached to a tractor. The combination of eight tyres on the trailer and ten on the tractor gives it the name eighteen-wheeler. They are used to carry freight.
Pop speak
❖ Baghe chhule athero gha is a proverb that implies the dire consequences of a tryst with a tiger — 18 bruises. Over the years, another line got added to the proverb, police chhule 36 gha, implying that an encounter with cops was doubly dangerous.
Postscript: Greenfield Heights, a housing complex in New Town, is called 18 tola in local parlance. This is because the four high income group towers were the tallest buildings to come up in the area, leading villagers to call the entire complex 18 tola.
INSIDE
Tribal art on view Fruits of 18-month project displayed at CL Block Asiatic Society hall
The palette is muted, the figures are bold, but what is most striking is the narrative that emerges from the series of paintings on the wall. The culmination of a project lasting 18 months is currently on view at Rajendralal Mitra Bhavan of Asiatic Society in CL Block.The show is on till August 14, 4pm to 7pm, except Sunday
These are patachitra paintings by tribal communities from the foothills of the Susunia hills in Bankura.On the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9, an exhibition of their works, titled Nascency, was inaugurated.The day is a global initiative to honour the rich cultural diversity, histories and contributions of indigenous communities.
“I visited Bankura for the first time in November 2021. After the pandemic, many of the artists had given up painting and were working as hired agricultural hands. The other problem was even if they painted, they used chemical colour,” said Reena Dewan, chairperson, Bridging Culture and Arts Foundation.
She got Botanical Survey of India experts to hold a workshop at the village to teach them how palash, turmeric, Malabar spinach or hyacinth bean could be used to prepare organic colours. The artistes were later brought to Calcutta to hone their skills further. They were also encouraged to remember forgotten tribal lores and portray through patachitra.
Visitors to the show can read and see illustrations of the Santhal equivalent of the Adam and Eve story, involving Pichu Haram and Pichu Buri, who, instead of tasting an apple, had simply got drunk on hnaria.
The inauguration was attended by Craft Council of India president emerita Ruby Palchoudhuri, Australian deputy consul general Kevin Goh, Asiatic Society president Swapan Kumar Pramanick and general secretary Satyabrata Chakrabarti.