Time Enough!

That’s it! I have had enough. I mean, how many times can I hear that we don’t have time! Makes me weary. I am spending my days coughing, currently. I don’t know for sure, but if I die of pneumonia or something, do accept my regards and wishes, and my apologies for not doing my duty by life. I mean I don’t know for sure- didn’t have time to visit a doc- but this wheezing and sniffing bit has been going on for a week now; more than my usual welcoming of the winter season. Reason – I didn’t have time to buy a bed. I mean God in heaven must be thinking I had time enough to make this thankless specimen, and she does not have time to try and live!

I remain positive, however. I can barely speak – maybe that’s why I got back to blogging with a vengeance. The coughing has made my onion warmer. I got thinking yesterday, how come we, in this generation, never have time. If you have read even one post here, you’ll know that most of what goes on in my top story, originates in someone’s mouth. I have heard some TV babas ask at the beginning of their spiritual programs, “How are we any different from, let’s say, the worm or the pig? We are born, we live, eat, drink, clean up, we die. What do we do which is so great, which the worm or the pig does not do?” When people have pondered in silence for a minute or so, baba continues to their immense astonishment, “Then why are we so sad, while worms and pigs live their humble life peacefully?!” This generation’s answer to this poignant question would be simple – we don’t have time to live our lives in peace, while the worms and pigs have.

It confounds me to think how they managed time in the earlier days. Byron had time to write 15000 or so lines of decent poetry, besides being in love, in orgies and in intoxication. Shelly, that great man, died at 30! In 30 years, he married twice, eloped once, survived a couple of wars, was an expatriate, wrote multiple volumes of first class poetry, among other things such as taking care of a depressive wife! While Gandhi had time to fight the war of independence and Nehru had time to build a nation, we don’t have time to read the newspaper! When we meet up, we have time either to guzzle on whiskey or talk. We usually vote for guzzling because talking would require thinking and that would mean making time for two things – talking and thinking.

The other day I was out shopping with a colleague, and we could not hear each other due to the blaring music. Of course we cursed the mall managers. To think back, the noise all around is the result of this same lack of time. We want to be busy. Being busy shopping is not enough. We need to be busy with more, for example, listening to some crap music (most of the malls play that brand). Multitasking is in. Breakfast on the go, mobile news feeds, video conferences, we have an alternative to everything, and still kids are in crèches and old people in old age homes and the all pervasive excuse is – we don’t have time! Being a logical, albeit dumb creature, I can’t help contemplate on the inactivity in our techno-savvy lives. We have an easier alternative for everything and yet we are forever finding simpler ways of doing things. People used to write letters in olden days. We thought that took too much time. To improve interaction, we devised the email. Then we devised the mobile and then the sms. Today the popular tool of communication is the missed call- no interaction! What was that word ‘redundant’ all about? Make some time to look it up, will you.

Sir J. M. Barrie says, ‘You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.’

Guys think. Time alone is timeless. Indulge in it. As we all know, there may not be tomorrow.