Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Punctuality Curse!!!

‘Be punctual’ was one of the many mantras that my father, may he rest in peace, had taught me. He had practiced religiously what he preached so profoundly. One of the memories that I hold dear to my heart is of my dad standing near the school gate waiting for my school bus to return from the ten day trip to Mussoorie. This was the first trip I had taken without my parents. I was in 8th standard then, so I am talking of something that happened almost 11 years ago. The reunion with my parents was to be a dramatic one and the emotional heaviness was palpable. My dad the sentimentalist that he was (I get the tag of being an emotional fool from him as a legacy as well) was standing there with a beautiful red rose in his hands. After a decade I have no idea where that rose withered too or where the smell vanished away… but the memory stays and today by writing about it I make it immortal!

Well this write-up is not about roses or re-unions. It is about the curse of punctuality. So the main point of the story that I was narrating earlier on was that the first thing my dad told me was “your mom n I have been waiting here for the past 2 hours!” that to me seemed odd considering we had driven back in good time and were at school only half hour late than the scheduled time. When I was alone with mom I asked her in a whisper, “why 2 hours?” My dad heard this and that was the first time I remember being given the decree that was to prove a curse over the years. “Always! Remember always reach before time. Its better to be 5 minutes early than even 1 minute late.”

This was just not a piece of advice that was given to me. I believe with all my heart that it was a moment when the celestial powers had said in chorus--- so it shall be! Till this date no one who has met me will ever tell you that I was late for an appointment. I reach at weddings before the venue is fully decorated, the relatives and the hosts have arrived or even the waiters are in proper dresses. This is my plight. My friends have been teasing me about reaching earlier than the scheduled time for ages. But the event that pushed me to blog about this curse is the realization that dawned on me in the past two days. The effect state borders have.

For the last two days I have had to go to Gurgaon for some work. Unfamiliar with the place I had called up friends and asked for directions, best route to take, and the estimated time that these frequent travelers would know it takes to reach Gurgaon which is practically another city for someone like me living in Central Delhi. The wise souls left no stone unturned to scare the hell out of me and telling me to move out of my house atleast 2 n ½ hours before the scheduled meeting time. I took the five minute margin into consideration as usual. Just as my luck would have it, the traffic to Gurgaon was not only smooth it was unfashionably fast to the point that the DTC bus commuted me to Gurgaon in 25 minutes flat. The cycle rikshaw driver who I had instructed to go at the slowest speed humanly possible was in a mood to pay no heed to me and compete with the British Airways jet flying overhead. So he managed to cover the distance in 10 minutes flat. Adding the total time of walking upto the bus-stop and then signing in the visitor’s book came to a grand total of one hour. Hola!!! I was 1 and ½ hours earlier for an appointment. A record for me as well!

When asked by my dear friend Gurneet as to what in my opinion was the reason for this extra-ordinary phenomenon I candidly replied, “Crossing the state border between Delhi and Haryana has an enhancing effect of my punctuality curse.”

6 comments:

Unknown said...

he he he....
well all i wud say is ..its all a matter of luck but just who the hell told u that it wud take 2 and half hour to reach!!
now though i knw its useless to preach u...still i wud say ..be on time ..its nothin bad at it..but plz dnt be before time..coz it sometimes giv tension to the opposite party (as i hav experienced many times) who is either not late or just 5min. late but still gets ur cursings..
"har waqt se pahele ana...sunana koi bahana..."..lol..
luv ya.. :D

Unknown said...

"wow....are u so jobless, dat u HAVE to reach on time everytime..!!and u make me luk late..
phew....."

lol...dis is ma favorite dialogue i use on all 'punctual' souls..

pri...well written piece ov work..evn tho definately not ma favorite topic..:D

but u must try to reach late for once...ahh..its a luxurious feelin..!!! lolz.


cheers, keep writin..!!!!

Gururaj said...

Hey Pri..

Nice write up !
u shld catch hold of the person who misguided you.. ;)

keep writing and take care

Guru

Unknown said...

Priyanka...

tera Kuch karna padegaa...
y r u so abnormal..:p
U can Never B a Star if ur so punctual:p

jokes Apart..Nice piece of work..i cant even dream to follow ur kinda punctuality..On time is fine..waise 5 to 10mins grace b chahiye..and Grace period depends on the other person too..lolz:p

Unknown said...

Punctuality is sure a curse bt for ma friends n family as they alwaysss hv 2 kp waitin for me:D!!Very rarely in ma personal life m on time ne where bt when i am i do make it a pt 2 flaunt so!!;)Every yr m gifted a watch on ma bday bt still me shameless hs no sharam!!recently i went 2 ma friend's weddin where i reached 2 hrs early(thanx 2 ma frnd!!)We spent tht time helpin the deco guy 2 decorate the flowers n chattin wth the watchmen n cameraman..so again r punctuality was a curse on them;)
Jokes apart- Ur blog AS ALWAYS brought a smile on ma face n made me remember those cute funny day-2-day experiences in ma personal life whch i very easily tend to ignore..Thnx dear..:D

Unknown said...

heyyyaaa.....

well well well....YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN BORN in JAPAN to maintain that CURSE ...

please...

WHY ARE YOU scaring the HELL(scheol) outta us,the POOR INDIANS....

come on,WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS in being late.....

dont EVEN think about BREAKING the LEGACY....

dont you know what WE mean when we say "WE FOLLOW INDIAN STANDARD TIME" yep IST="THE TIME wrt the other party"+(60 minutes)*(SOMETHING)

and that SOMETHING depends on who that OTHER PARTY is,and HOW IMPORTANT the THING is....neways it's always proportional to the IMPORTANCE of being punctual...

so,please DONT BE PUNCTUAL(in the sense dont be a hindering block to the sensation INDIA RISING...yep INDIA RISING (RISING THAT SOMETHING "SOMETHING"))...

hehheheh


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this comment is from a LAZY person who always follows the IST (the formula that i gave to you,which was provided to me by the POLITICIANS of this country,yep the fruit OF THEIR experience, is CERTAINLY INCLUDED in my IST)

SO,dont mind...i wont mind,even if you do...

HUM LOGON KO SAMAJH SAKO THO SAMJHO DILBAR JAANI ....(forgot the next line of that UNFORGETTABLE song...)

PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI...

@pri:: BEWARE :the very thought of BREAKING THE LEGACY (of not being PUNCTUAL) is like COMMITING HARA KIRI..