No knotty issue this

NEW DELHI: When 42-year-old Demi Moore tied the knot with 15-years-her-junior Ashton Kutcher last week, the celeb press trotted out the usual May-December jibes. But as more and more women wake up to the fact that sometimes Mr Right arrives late and shows up several years younger, the toy-boy taunt���s wearing a bit thin.
Ask Manini De, Pari of Jassi fame, and she wonders what the big deal about age is."My husband (Mihir Misra, Sanjivani) is a couple of years younger but I think mental age matters more than physical age. I know of a very successful woman whose husband is 11 years younger and absolutely besotted."
So why are such relationships becoming more common? "An older woman is usually successful career-wise, well-read and more mature than a 22-year-old girl who lets ambition override her relationship needs. A younger man may find this attractive," feels Manini.
Not that dating and marriage aren���t tough enough without the added burden of an age gap. But increasingly, many couples are finding ways to make it work. Says TV personality Archana Puransingh, "When Parmeet (Sethi) and I decided to get married, his parents did raise objections at the seven-year age difference. Initially, even I was a bit shocked but I soon realised it was fate."
Archana admits the occasional doubt does cross her mind. "Sometimes when he has the energy to go out and I���m not upto it, I do wonder whether it���s age coming in the way. But logic tells me that this could happen even if I was younger."
Where celebs lead, many more follow. Love came in a younger wrapping for software engineer Anjali who found her match at IIT. "My fiance is two years younger but the age gap never crossed my mind, perhaps because he���s so mature. So many of my MSc friends are going out with younger guys that none of us even consider it unusual," says Anjali. For Goldy Mehta, a garment designer whose husband was only 23 when they got married, five years of wedded bliss have put paid to doubts. "I was taken aback when he proposed but I soon realised he was very mature."
However, many of those who go for it do admit that they have to deal with preconceived notions: he���s after her money, she wants to mould him, he���s looking for a mother, she���s cradle-snatching.
For the blokes, "experience" is part of the charm though the spectre of Oedipus looms large. Says Amit, a 26-year-old web designer who���s seeing a woman in her forties, "Why subject us to such Freudian psycho-analysis. Mature women are older, wiser and, hence, more attractive." He doesn���t deny the attraction���s enhanced by the fact that she���s reasonably affluent with her own two-room flat.
Sexologist Prakash Kothari concurs. "Sex isn���t the only allure for a younger man. An older woman is more mature and her financial stability provides a sense of security." There���s no reason why such a relationship shouldn���t work as long as there���s chemistry, he feels.
So, go girl!