It has come of age to tell our age without fear.

Age for women has always been a piece of information that could be so secretly guarded to the extent that in one particular case, a lady has kept secret her age from her boyfriend, so much as that the boyfriend left this world without even knowing her age.

This lady's look and voice have always been deceiving. Nobody has ever guessed her age correctly and teachers who called up to look for the son's mother, at the instant of hearing her voice would ask to speak to her mother instead when she is actually the one.

Each time she goes out with her niece, people would always make remarks that make her day and put her on top of the world. Her look has naturally attracted many men and lately, a man wanted to woo her and she told the man she is 45, the man seriously refused to believe that and literally took it as a joke.

With this recent experience, she begins to realise that when she tells the truth about her age, people wouldn't even believe her. So, she told me she would now tell people her real age without fear because people would not believe it anyway. She no longer needs to feel anxious when people ask about her age.

Anyway, for the newer generations, age is no longer a secret for Singaporeans because the first two digits of the Singapore NRIC number would reveal the year of birth of the person. So, next time, be more tactful to ask for NRIC number when you actually wanted to know the age. For Malaysians, the Malaysian NRIC number reveals the entire birthdate, if I am not wrong.