Indian Stretchable Time

  Indian Stretchable Time was how IST was described because we Indians didn't believe in punctuality as a virtue,  late lateefi was expected and accepted as a norm rather than an aberration.  Trains running late at times by even 24 hours was not something to be ashamed of or even frowned upon. The chief guest arriving on schedule implied he was a "vella" as they say in Punjabi, ie he is without any work. By corollary if he arrived late by a couple of hours he was obviously a busy and important man. So much so that if one landed up in time it was almost like arriving unannounced, taking the hosts by surprise. As the ghazal maestroJagjit Singh sang ," Der lagi aane mein tumko, shukr hai phir bhi aye to"( you were late but thanks for still making it)

Being in the Army, punctuality is literally drilled into us at the famous Drill squares in the academies, where a delay of even a fraction of a second is sacrilege and invites heavy punishment not just for yourself but also your buddies. Naturally one has to imbibe this virtue for life and stands us in good stead all our life.

It is actually quite surprising for a nation which follows the "shubh muhurtam"(auspicious time)  for all its activities right from birth to the time one is consigned to flames to be so lackadaisical onthis issue. There is a "chaugarhiya" from the "panchang" the almanac for undertaking any activity during the day. We adopted a number of things from our colonial masters,  English being one of them, dress sense the other,  but punctuality which they swore by was somehow forsaken for good. The Indian Army which traces its origin to the British Indian Army stuck to it and lives by it, after all for us it was a matter of life and death and every second mattered. 

Having been raised in such an environment, the typical Punjabi wedding scenes where the procession just carried on and on was amusing at first and then it gave way to  just resigned acceptance. But when it came to our own weddings,  we were back to our fauji upbringing and were very particular about the  muhurtam of the "shubh lagna". The happy occasion was my younger sibling  Sujay'swedding and having explained the sanctity of the auspicious time to the bride's side we presumed things were crystal clear. We landed up at the the dotted hour,  but cometh the hour and the hosts went missing, as they presumed that a procession will precede with band in attendance and that would be a give away for them to take the posts at the gates. Unfortunately for them, we landed up without any fanfare leaving them shell shocked running helter skelter trying to organize things for the rituals ahead. 

Emergency period was infamous for the curtailment of human rights, but one aspect which improved remarkably was that trains started to run on time and government offices stuck to the timings, in other words time did become "standard" for some time at least. But sure enough with human rights restored, our fundamental right to stretch time endlessly was back with a bang. May be we Indians who are brought up to believe in the eternity of time, having traversed through multiple life times consider this obsession with time as just a minor irritant. Philosophically may be that holds ground too. After all there is a time for everything. Iska bhi time ayega! 

Published in Free Press Journal dated 16 Apr 23  https://epaper.freepressjournal.in/Home/ArticleView?eid=2&edate=16/04/2023&pgid=14508