Reflecting on time. Time and time again

This is a short and sweet, on-the-run kinda entries.

I just remembered that one of my friends back there in Delhi (the HE) always said that "Work expands to fill the time". HOW TRUE… But, unfortunately, the concept that I see of time these days is a bit different. What I see is that “Work has to shrink to fit in the time”. Time will never expand, will it???
Keep walking…
I

Originally posted on October 29, 2004. Now reposted. Unabridged !

Reflections on Random Dimensions

It is often said (and oftener heard) that the 3-dimensional world that we reside in has a logical and metaphysical extension. A fourth dimension.. And that dimension is time.

Take care of the seconds, and the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves, it is said. And, by extension, I'd say that the the days and the weeks, and the months will take care of themselves. And so will the years and the decades. And so will life. Or will it? I have my doubts...

Anyways, the real issue behind this blog is the complete timelessness of the situation. I mean it is 4 AM, I've got a class at 9, but still am up writing something that I don’t know if anyone will read. And it is not just me. Its the whole junta that is awake, chatting, walking, singing, studying,, all in various forms of distress and decay, all having so much to do today, at this very moment but still putting up a brave front, a fight for existence and survival at its very best, (or was it worst) that I am amazed. Simply amazed at the resistence and resilience of all of us. (This sentence has gotten longer than I expected, so I'll cut it midway here itself.)

Coming to the point, where else would you find sane people taking a bath at 2.30 am, a hike in the wilderness outside at 3, going for a coffee at maybe 4, and after the end of it all sleep at 5 AM, after a night full of activity and action, but no tangible benefit. Why look far, even right now right here, there is a discussion going on just outside my room on the trends of per capita incomes and expenditures and national income of the country over the last 20 years. And going by the look of things, this ain’t gonna stop anytime soon.

Something stuck me today. A friend asked me the date. I had to look at my cell to find out the answer. Then I realized that I didn’t even know what day it was. Forget an error of approximation by a day or two. I had no idea as to whether it was the start of the week, or the end. (BTW, I found out later, that it was a Saturday). This ain’t just me. Everyone here has lost completely the concepts of day, date and time. It is all immaterial. Don’t know don’t care.. That just about sums it up.

The world we live in here (most of us, if not all) is a cocoon, an insulated shell, that nothing can penetrate, nothing can permeate. We all have very narrow, short term focuses that demand our time and attention. The distinction between what is important and what is urgent has long escaped us.

More Random Musings coming up as and when I find the time ;-)

Keep Posting.

I

Originally posted on Sunday, October 24, 2004. Now reposted!

Dreamers inc.

"Utha jag mushaphir bhor bhai, ab rain kaha jo sovat hai,

Jo sovat hai so khovat hai, jo jagat hai so pavat hain."

Just yesterday, in class, you know what? I dozed off. Nothing new in that, I do it almost every other day. Generally I doze off for 2-3 minutes once or twice each class. But yesterday was different. Very very different. I didn't just doze off, I slept!

The scene was bad... so bad, that only today I came to know that Maiti had been caught sleeping in class by Haria, and rebuked for the same. The fun part is that I missed the complete Maiti – Haria episode 'coz I was asleep. Sound asleep in my last row corner seat, without a care in the world. .

T'was frightening!! To think that I was so close to being caught. And yet so far in another world. In wonderland, the wonderland that Lewis Carol's Alice so famously walked off into with gay abandon.

And today, again I had a close escape. V. K. Gupta, our MAC prof and Mr. Cool "Value Addition" guy, caught Arun asleep. And, now hard as I try, I can't seem to remember the exact "Catching hold of" scene. That means I was asleep too. Lucky lucky lucky. What followed was a gem... Mr. Gupta, in chaste Hindi/Sanskrit gave Arun a mouthful. Not the usual mouthful, but a beautiful couplet which had something to do with the sleepers losing and the wakers winning. Cool cool prof. Not many have the ability to laugh at themselves with the whole class laughing. But this guy is different.

Net learnings from the case - There are classes and there are cases. There are sleepers and there are sleepers. But the true sleeper in class is the one who picks and chooses the moments to sleep. Sleep... sleep as much as you want to, but for Pete's sake (plz dont ask me who is Pete; I read this phrase somewhere and somehow it has stuck... ) wake up for the attendance sheet, and wake up for the tea break. Dont miss these at any cost.

Originally posted on October 14, 2004. Now reposted!