P for Punctuality

Addressed to no one in particular but everyone in general



I watch the clock - ticking out its time.

I hear the gears - tocking till the chime…

I hold my stare acutely

And focus ears astutely.

The whole gestalt of this assault by me on clock

Collapses in to hence become

A new me-time continuum -

This clock and I, a vacuum -

Dial and me, we've come to be

A synergistic, fatalistic victim, hmm…




‘So true, so very true!’ I remarked, reading these words that Mark Slaughter has so beautifully penned. In an instant, I remembered all those countless times when I have felt these exact emotions. When I have had to wait for someone somewhere and that someone did not even bother to inform me that he/she was going to be late. When I have had to wait, panting, for the next train to arrive at the station while I had missed the previous train by just a whisker. When I have had to wait for someone to reply to my sms, that was accompanied by a ‘reply ASAP’. When I have had to wait for the webpage to download when I was checking my University results. Gosh! How I hate waiting!



Waiting for someone is one of the things I hate the most! ‘hate’ is actually an understatement, ‘despise’ is more like it. Personally, I feel, there is no other torture in the world like enduring other peoples’ stares (and unspoken thoughts) while they are going about their activities and I am forced to keep standing (or sitting, if I am lucky) in waiting, one eye on the watch and the other on the ‘red carpet’ along which the ‘esteemed Chief Guest’ is destined to make a grand entry! And I get all the more irritated if that ‘distinguished, honorary Man-Of-The-Moment’ arrives late, doesn’t even bother to apologize and makes some lame excuses or worse, doesn’t even acknowledge that he/she is late. And the icing on the cake is when His/Her Majesty just rolls his/her eyes and says something like ‘Come on, don’t you know me? Am I not always this late?’ or ‘I am just following Indian Standard Time’.



I personally disrespect anybody who has no regard for other peoples’ time. The question to ask is, why should you always be this late? Why be late at all? Isn’t there anything in the world called ‘time management’? Cliched though it may sound, this is one of the important factors that determine man’s success in life. When it was known to you that you have to meet someone at some place at say 6 in the evening, and knowing the time it will take you to travel to that place, can’t you start on time? Can’t you get dressed in time? Before you leave or start getting dressed, can’t you make all the arrangements so that you don’t have to rush at the eleventh hour? How is it that you reach the airport or the railway station on time, in fact may be even an hour early, when you have a flight/train to catch, but are almost always late by at least 30 minutes when you have to go out with a friend? Is it simply because that someone is a ‘friend’ and that you don’t lose anything when you are late for this appointment, so why bother to be on time? Since there is no punishment in sight for being late for an appointment with a friend, ‘It’s Okay’ to be late, isn’t it?



What sadistic pleasure do you derive by making someone wait for you? Does it make you seem important? Or someone who is sought after? Repeatedly being late, I feel, is the habit of people who have no better thing to do in life. There is no other way that can make them feel important and sought by others. They do not have any other way in which they can make others remember them or think about them. Doesn’t matter even if the other person curses them, just the thought that he/she is thinking about them is enough. For heaven’s sake, get a life man!



Never, my friend, never ever have a disregard for anybody’s time, be it a friend or anybody else. Life is too short to lose waste time being away from a loved one. If that person is waiting for you patiently and devotedly, it means he/she loves you and you have no right to put his/her love to test, in this way. Every minute that you are late, your friend is losing his love and respect for you. And you never know, it may cease to exist one day. And then, there is no use crying over the split milk.



Being late for an appointment be it professional or personal, is an unpardonable offence in western countries. Do not let this become a routine or a habit. Once the habit of being late sets in, it may become difficult to mend ways. This habit could land you in trouble, could cost you your job, or worse, your life. And, it is not always circumstances, which are responsible for such actions. You were late, not because your mom did not wake you up, but because you overslept. You were late, not because your alarm failed to go off, but because you kept ‘putting it on snooze’. You were late, not because the trains were late but, because you didn’t start on time. Don’t you realize my friend, that it was your fault in the first place and, the circumstances, just added to all the misery. Always remember, you, and you alone are responsible for all your actions. In the end no one bothers why you were late for that all-important interview. The fact is you were late and it cost you the most challenging opportunity life had presented you. Opportunity had knocked your door, but you just did not open it in time.




P.S. This does not imply that I am ‘Miss Perfect’ or the ‘epitome of punctuality’. I am also late on a number of occasions and I honestly regret all those moments during which I test my friends’ patience. But I am trying hard, really hard, to improve and hope you do the same.