TIME is unidirectional

TIME is unidirectional. We either think of past or worry of future that is the only direction we know of TIME. We are also aware that time cannot be reversed. We all have memories of the past but there are no memories of future. Past cannot be changed but that can influence our future. Time-reversal is invariant, it can be said that like other physical quantities (such as velocity, acceleration), time cannot change or reverse its direction because one cannot travel back to the moments of his past life. Paranormal may claim but I really don’t know.

Every morning we see sunrise in the East and Sun sets in the West in evening. This just can’t change and because of this we always consider only one direction of TIME. Why Sun cannot rise in North and set in South? Science can explain this and also has to admit it’s limitations that no change is possible in this mechanism. There is no way one can change or reverse the direction of TIME.

If at all some day TIME is reversed, then it will create more complications than any benefits. There may not be any customized reversal. If any reversal takes place it will be universal and then everyone be on same level play field once again. One may not retain the advances, technological and other and then go back in TIME. Perhaps one cannot carry the cell phone with self while travelling in the past. And if that’s going to be that way then what’s use in going back. Frankly I would like to have today’s salary and travel back fifty years to enjoy the 50’s cost of living. May be my female friends can buy gold by tons as against by grams as it is today. And one can buy acres of land rather than brooding for few hundred sq. ft. land that’s available today. So just going back in time frame is no answer. One will commit same mistakes and will repent in future and this will continue. So TIME reversal has no meaning if it’s going to be in totality. I wish technology develops for customized time reversal so that I can enjoy best of both the worlds. Till then continue the way it is…….

TIME is Money

Whatever quantum of TIME allotted by the Almighty is fixed for the individual. One can spend the TIME the way one desires but no one can buy the TIME. One may utilize the TIME to generate wealth and be the the riched person on the planet but there is no way the money generated can be recycled to generate TIME. And that’s the reason TIME is very precious, no one can generate TIME and that’s impossible. Therefore make best use of your TIME, if one desires to generate wealth, go ahead, generate as much as one can, but that will be left behind when TIME is up. That money cannot generate TIME.

I am reminded of a story when Man demands more TIME from the Almighty when the TIME allocation was going on. Man was given the intelligence and short span of life but the intelligence didn’t work and greed took over. The additional allotment that was granted by the Almighty didn’t help anyway for value creation. And Man made a fool of himself.

The story is…..

When God created the donkey, he said:"You’ll work day and night, and you’ll carry in your back heavy baggage. You’ll eat grass and you’ll have low IQ. You’ll be living for 50 years." Donkey realized the problem and was intelligent enough to ask for reduction in life span by 20 years.

Then, God created the dog:"As a dog, you’ll guard man’s property and you’ll be his staunch/loyal friend. You’ll eat their leftovers and you’ll be living for 25 years." The faithful creature was clever enough to realize life with leftovers and asked for just 10 years.

Then, God created the monkey:" You’ll jump around, tree to tree, and you’ll act like a fool so people can be entertained by you. You life will last 20 years."  Monkey could imagine what could be the lifr for such long span and desired to live for only 10 years.

God granted what these creatures desired. Last, God created the Man:"You’re a Man. You’re the only sensible being on the planet earth. You’ll use your intelligence to dominance the other creatures. You’ll be in charge. You’ll life will last 20 years." The greed took over this intelligent creature and he he demanded the residual life span of donkey’s 20 years, dog’s 15 years and monkeys 10 years.

The demand was met. Since then Man lives for 20 years as a Man. Then, he gets married and works as a donkey for 20 years by carrying heavy baggage night and day. With his children and lives as a dog, guarding the house and his property, eating family leftovers. And when he grows old, he lives like a monkey. He’s his grandchildren’s entertainer by acting fool.

Be happy with the TIME that you have because no amount of money can generate TIME and with the borrowed TIME one can be anything except Man.

TIME, your family and more

I haven’t come across anyone asking me, what did you buy with your TIME today? We always come across a very common question how did you spent your TIME today. We have always considered TIME for spending and not for buying. No one ever told me that he spent one hour in the temple and bought peace of mind. There was no buying of fatigue and headache by spending one hour in traffic jam. We keep spending TIME without much consideration. Ever since we are born we have been spending TIME and that’s because TIME is for one-way trading. We only spend TIME, we can’t buy TIME. We are not sure how much TIME we have yet we keep spending. For mortals TIME is not eternal, there are limitations yet we spend TIME as if it’s limitless. We spend TIME on eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, working, on our hobbies, on our vices. It’s just spend, spend and spend. If TIME is limited then we must spend it wisely. I have a story that explains this.

The story goes like this…….

A professor walks in the classroom with an empty jar of may be one liter capacity. He places few golf balls in the jar till the top and ask the students if the jar is full. Yes is the reply from the class. The professor then pours few pebbles in the jar till the pebbles occupy the empty spaces between the golf balls. Shakes the jar little to see if more pebbles can be accommodated? He again questions the class ‘is the jar full’. Yes, the class roars loudly. The professor then picks up some sand and pours in jar, occasionally tapping the jar to get sand settled in all available space. The jar is now almost full.

Professor explains that this jar is like your life. The golf balls are the important things, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions. And if everything else is lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. And the sand is everything else, insignificant small stuff.

In your life you need to manage golf balls. Fill the jar with golf balls. If you fill the jar with pebbles and sand, then there will be no space for the golf balls. You have to spend time on golf balls – your family, your spouse, your children, your parent, your grandparents, your friends, your passion and your health. You have to wisely spend your TIME. If you spend TIME on sand and pebbles then you will never have room for golf balls that are important to you.

Set your priorities and spend TIME wisely.

TIME flies?

We all are used to an age old saying “TIME flies”. In fact time has a constant speed and it just can’t fly or drag. What makes us feel that the TIME is flying? It’s basically our own frame of mind. If your mind is occupied with positive thoughts, for some creative pursuit, for some constructive work then obviously you will feel that TIME is flying. When you brood, have nothing to do, your mind is full of negativity then no wonder you will feel TIME is dragging, it’s slow. And for some it has just stopped but for a different reason. The song from 1942 Love Story is testimony of this that says Kuchha No Kaho, Kuchhabhi Na Kaho, Mujhko Pata Hai, Tumko Pata Hai, Samay Ka Ye Pal, Thamsa Gaya Hai, Aur Is Pal Mein Koi Nahin Hai, Bas Ek Main Hoon, Bas Ek Tum Ho. (कुछ ना, कहो कुछ भी ना कहो, मुझको पता है, तुमको पता है, समय का ये पल, थम सा गया है, और इस पल में कोई नहीं है, बस एक मैं हूँ, बस एक तुम हो.)

So it’s all your own frame of mind. Once Sherpa Tensing was asked by his wife to get some stuff from market. Shopping is never a hobby for most of the males. Sherpa was no exception. He was not too keen for shopping so he told his wife that it takes long to go to the market, going up and down several times in the hilly region. He was quipped by his wife that this too long is just a fraction of time that you take to climb Mt. Everest. Obviously going for shopping was far more time consuming for Sherpa than climbing mountains due to frame of his mind. Exploring new peaks was far more interesting for Sherpa than going up and down the hills couple of times to buy vegetables. For him time would fly in the Himalayan range and would drag on the streets of Darjeeling. So if you want TIME to fly, then do something that interests you.

Very often a couple (essentially before the marriage) misses each other badly when separated. And Majanu (मजनू) tell his Laila (लैला) that he feels each second is as long as a year in her absence. The TIME drags as seen in many movies. The famous song from Meri Surat Teri Ankhen मेरी सूरत तेरी आँखे - Ek Pal Jaise Ek Jug Bita (इक पल जैसे इक जुग बिता …… ) Or for someone with insomnia, not essentially for medical reason, the night is too long, Karavate Badalate Rahe Saari Raat Hum….(करवटे बदलते रहे सारी रात हम .. ). And some lose track of time as in a classical number from Marathi movie Aai Shappat (आई शप्पथ) Sudh Bisaraye Mero, Kajarare Nain, Nahi Padat Tum Bin Chain….(सुध बिसराये मेरो, कजरारे नैन, नाहि पडत तुम बिन चैन....... )  endorses dragging of TIME.

So it’s the frame of mind and it’s universal. The song Tere Ishq Main Sudh Budh Khoi, Haal Na Jaane Koi… (तेरे इश्क़मे सुध बुध खोई, हाल ना जाने कोई। .... ) from a popular Pakistani TV serial, echoes similar sentiments. 108, an American hardcore punk band is founded in 1991. In their album Songs of Separation, in the song Govinda-Virahena, the TIME is dragging, the lyrics are,

Moments Drag On For Ages,

Eyes Shower Storms Of Tears,

The Whole World Is An Empty Void,

Without You Govinda

This kind of urge to be with the Almighty can also drag time for the devotees. While for some others the TIME will just fly in their Bhakti.

In Steve Wilson’s album The Incident TIME flies, it says,

Into a suburb of heaven

Yeah, it should've been forever,

It all seems to make so much sense,

But after a while

You realize time flies

And the best thing that you can do

Is take whatever comes to you

'Cause time flies

But in reality TIME never drags or flies. Have positivity, you will enjoy every moment and you may endorse “TIME flies”.

Repeat the good TIME

Good time is the period when your efforts give you the desired results. Things work your way because of your attitude, right decisions and resultant actions. At times this success or the desired result in the “good time” affects the attitude and then things change; your decisions may go wrong as your perceptions are different because of your attitude. The actions fail to deliver and then one blames the TIME. At this stage one needs to mentally go back to same period that was “good time”. The attitude needs to be realigned for the decisions that might prove right and good times may return. The circumstances that are adverse may not be under our control but what needs to be done in such conditions is certainly in our control. So one needs to rewind, audit good times and take actions.

I admire performance of West Indies in 2016 T20 Cricket World Cup. The team was written off, people were wondering whether they will play the World Cup. Abandoning India tour was disastrous. There were many issues. The team was disrespected by their board, Mark Nicholas described our team as a team with no brains. They lacked the resources. But the team was determined. Darren Sammy wanted to create the history.

Darren Sammy led the team in 2012 when others had deserted. In 2012 he contributed big to the win. When Samuels got out, West Indies were still 108 in the 18th over. They needed a strong finish to keep fighting. And fight Sammy did. He swung and ran like hell, turning three ones into twos in the last over, hitting two fours around those scrambles. He had that attitude; he took the right decisions and actions. West Indies emerged as winners.

In 2016 same Darren Sammy had to go full circle. He had to rewind and get into repeat mode again. In his emotional speech after the victory at Eden’s Garden he said “I got to give credit to the entire team here, it was us in our own little circle”. He also mentioned about the ability to just put all those adversities aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans. Had Sammy given up, not got back the same attitude that he had when he won the final against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, the 2016 win would not have been possible. The “good time” for Sammy and his team was because of going back to attitude that they had in “good days” and rework. Results were evident.

TIME and Decisions

One must get the credit for a good job done. Someone who wants to undermine another individual would invariably give credit to TIME. The expression may be “TIME was good, so there were positive results”. I wonder why this attitude? If someone has taken right decisions in a given time frame that gave the desired results, then why credit the TIME? Giving credit to individuals is always good. Let’s not snatch away what is due to the individual. One often blames the individual for bad job but credits TIME for a good work. This is unfair. Individuals evaluate time to take decisions. Time doesn’t evaluate individuals. So give credit to individuals.

I like a story of Three Fishes from Panchatantra. It goes like this…..

In a lake there lived three fishes. Their names were Anagatavidhata, Pratyutpannamati and Yadbhavishya. One day Anagatavidhata heard plans of few fishermen who decided to go for the catch where these fishes lived. Anagatavidhata got scared as next day could be the last for him and his friends. He shared this information with Pratyutpannamati and Yadbhavishya.  Pratyutpannamati realized the gravity of situation and felt concerned. Yadbhavishya had different views, he said all these years no one came to this lake for fishing therefore it is unlikely that someone will come here. Moreover, he said, they have been living in the lake for generations, therefore it’s their right to stay here. Anagatavidhata, (meaning forecaster) and Pratyutpannamati (meaning Ready minded, quick witted) decided to shift their base to another safe location. Yadbhavishya (meaning careless about future) ridiculed his friends and opposed the move. That night Anagatavidhata, and Pratyutpannamati alongwith their other folks moved out to safer location, whereas Yadbhavishya and his folks continued their stay. Next morning at dawn the fishermen came with their nets and caught Yadbhavishya and his  folks.

Anagatavidhata evaluated the TIME, Pratyutpannamati took the decision. Obviously the credit should go to these two wise fishes and not the TIME. While gasping for breath in the basket of fisherman Yadbhavishya might have cursed the TIME. But that was too late….

TIME is not bad

Cursing time is no solution to the problem. Problems are part of life. At times these problems do not easily get solved or remain unsolved and one tends to blame the TIME. It’s a natural escape route. When the efforts to overcome the obstacles cease, the blame game starts and easiest one to be blamed is TIME aka LUCK (as explained in last post). Humans are very peculiar; they do not like to accept the blame. Blame is to be passed on and finally it stops at TIME. Is it the TIME that’s responsible for someone’s failure? Can we really say TIME is bad?

To clear or cross any obstacle one needs to take efforts coupled with ability. The combination of efforts and ability are good enough to clear the obstacles. If this combination is not in place then it is bad. Obstacles can come anytime, in any form, any shape, any size and needs to be cleared. One has just not to face the obstacles but overcome the obstacles. 

A story for the day. We all have been told, narrated, and read this story in our childhood. It’s a story of Thirsty Crow. The thirsty crow in the story realizes that water is available in the pot. It understands that the pot has narrow long neck and its beak is not long enough to draw the water from the pot. So there are two obstacles one is the neck of the pot and another one is short beak of the crow. Obviously it cannot do anything to elongate the beak, therefore there is just one obstacle and that’s the long narrow neck of the pot. Some efforts were already made to identify the obstacle. Now some more efforts and the ability to overcome the obstacle. The crow has to fly around and pick up the right size of the pebbles that would raise the water level. Just imagine a large size pebble that the crow would have dropped in the neck of the pot would have changed the entire story. So ability to identify right size of pebbles was critical and so was the distance between the source of the pebbles and the pot. Had the distance been large the thirsty crow would have been dead doing the trips to the pot. The thirsty crow over a period of time could drop enough pebbles to quench its thirst. Had the crow not put the efforts and had no ability the story would have been different.

Then everyone would have said TIME was bad……

TIME and Luck

Very often we confuse between TIME and LUCK. People say someone had a bad time or good time. Time is a period. It can be measured, from milliseconds to light years. This can be quantified, but what was good or  bad in a given phase cannot be quantified. Anything that happens in a given time interval can happen due to various factors and one cannot hold time responsible for that. Time has objectivity and luck is subjective.  I have seen many times people mentioning, had they waited for another six months, they would have got a better spouse. Six months is quantified where as better spouse is very subjective.

A good or bad phase in one’s life for a specific number of days or years is generally expressed as good time or bad time and that’s where the confusion arises. If luck is good or bad in a given time frame, one tends to call it good time or bad time. Time is time, it’s same for all. It’s the luck that is different. Someone might be benefited in a given period whereas someone else may suffer. The time frame is same but events and results are subjective, and are relative, however these get tied to time. And this leads to confusion between time and luck. The line differentiating these two is very thin. Next time when you want to thank for something good that has happened, then thank your luck and if it’s something bad that you experienced, curse your luck.  Do not thank or curse the time.

Let me share a story with you. I call it a story because identity of the person involved in the story is not established. However the story drives home the point. Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 is still a mystery. Some passenger with Twitter account named as Kaiden IV claimed that he and his companion Rory were booked on ill-fated flight. Due to personal reasons they were separately held up and couldn’t board the flight. He was angry and cursed the bad time for having missed the time, but his anger turned to relief upon learning he’d avoided what has become one of the biggest aviation mysteries in history. Kaiden made desperate attempts to contact his partner via Twitter, assuring her he was safe, and, most importantly, alive. What Kaiden thought was a bad time turned out to be a good time.

TIME is never good or bad, it’s your deeds, your luck that forces you to call the TIME good or bad.

Manage TIME

It’s universal that a day has 24 hours and each hour is of 60 minutes and 60 seconds make a minute. It’s same for all from east to west, north to south, rich to poor and with no racial discrimination.

I often come across large number of people who complain that they don’t have TIME. If everyone has same 24 hours a day then why do some complain about lack of TIME? There can be many reasons. For a workaholic, it may be the urge to complete the work in a given time frame. But the question that comes to my mind is about the time frame, who decides? Is it realistic? Are the priorities correct?  Are we trying to chew more than we can bite? Or are we racing against the time rather than going with the time?

THINK. I understand it’s a competitive world and one has to keep running and aspire to be the FIRST. And that’s perfectly fine, but understand the limitations, set right priorities. You will find it easier. Your ability to manage TIME is the critical factor, and that depends on your prioritization. Once clarity emerges your TIME allocation improves and then you will have enough TIME. And you may not again blame the TIME.

And finally………

I get reminded of a story, “How much land does a man require?” by Leo Tolstoy written in 1886. A farmer named Pahom is given offer to take all the land he can walk from sunrise to sunset, provided he returns to the starting point before sunset. The hardworking Pahom starts walking at the sunrise for this great opportunity. He travels mile and miles during the day to cover maximum possible land for himself. Unfortunately the poor guy fails to realize when to turn back, and doesn’t make it to the starting point before the sunset and loses the opportunity. Inability of Pahom to manage his time is to be blamed and not the TIME.

So let’s develop ability to manage the TIME.