Little ZeeZee has featured quite a few times in my previous posts and he’s back again! The four-year-old gives me ample food for thought. On this instance, he has made me ponder on something that is so much the core of our being. When he was recently told that he could open his neatly packaged toy car “tomorrow”, the tiny champ asked his dad “when” the sun would come out the next day. We have nations that follow the practice of turning the clock forward to make better use of natural daylight. So I think it was indeed very smart thinking exercised by a child. In his own simple way, he has conceptualized time, linking sunrise with the beginning of a new day. Perhaps “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow” cannot be defined in concrete terms by the little one, nor does he know what an hour, minute, or second is, but he definitely has some sense of time. No wonder whenever he visits us, he keeps extending his stay by requesting Mommy for “two more minutes”!
Time, I feel, is multidimensional. Its attributes can be so perplexing! According to Albert Einstein, one of the greatest physicists of all ages, time is relative and flexible. He theorized that “the dividing line between past, present, and future is an illusion”. Einstein proposed that the higher one lived above sea level, the faster he aged. I wouldn’t dare to even step into such high territory of thinking, let alone attempting to understand it. I am happy simply to know what the great philosopher had said and think about time like any layman would do.
Time governs the quotidian actuality of our existence. From waking up in the morning till hitting the hay at night, we have a schedule that dictates our actions. Things go haywire when we do not follow it. In this connection, I am reminded about deadlines that many of us need to meet at some point or the other. We race against time to hand over our deliverables. And sometimes we have the feeling that an extension of time could yield better results!
It is quite intriguing to reflect on the paradoxes here. When something is stressful, disturbing, or annoying, time just does not seem to pass. How often have we felt that everything is moving at a snail’s pace in phases of something unfortunate happening in our lives? Every day seems like eternity, and we desperately want that period to be over. On the contrary, the joyous moments end so soon without us realizing how long we had basked in their glory! And then there are also occasions when one feels that time has come to a standstill. A nature worshipper totally mesmerized by the serenity of the hills, the sunset, or anything beautiful that strikes the eye is so deeply immersed in the magic of the moment that he or she undergoes the experience of time coming to a pause.
I love the red, orange, and yellow colors that are so much a part of the fall splendor. The leaves this year have not changed color yet. It is only the cooler temperatures that have signaled that a seasonal transition is in line. Almost every year around this time, I make a statement that the year has passed really fast, only to be reminded by my better half that this is an exact repetition of what I had said the previous year too. Our lives these days are so busy with myriads of tasks to attend to that time literally zooms away without us being conscious about it. We run short of time to achieve our goals and I feel just a couple of extra hours to the everyday 24-hour window frame would have immensely helped!
It will be hard to find anyone who has not heard the rather clichéd statement of time being a precious gem. The older school of thought, comprising of grandparents and parents, rarely misses imparting this lesson to the younger generations. I have a confession to make that over the last several years, I too have been giving lectures on the value of time to my college-going kid to keep him on track. I can bet that down the road, he will do the same to his child.
It goes without saying that using time in an intelligent way helps us plan and get more work done. Something interesting just came to my mind. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a very legitimate reason for donning the same color T-shirt every day. He claims that by dressing the same way, he can save time and energy for focusing his mind on more important things at work. Not everyone can be Mark, and a style icon will disagree with him, but nevertheless, his logic has a valid premise!
What about being in the right place at the right time? That sure is a mantra for success! You miss the bus if you do not seize the opportunity when the moment is ripe.
Well now it’s my moment to call it a day! A lovable, adorable four-year old has sent me on an exploration of the facets of time. I am skeptical if the idea of writing a blog post on this theme would have even crossed my mind. But certain thoughts land on your gray cells without notice. They instantly trigger your imagination, and ZeeZee talking about sunrise did urge me to reflect on the parameters of this continuum of experience that we call time!
rashmi writes 
Loved reading your piece! Big thanks for Zayd’s reference. Wonderfully written! 🤗
Lovely piece once again, Rashmi. As I get older, time certainly seems to go much faster. I find myself often wanting to slow it down a bit!
Very well written! Little Zazu has really triggered a very insightful conversation. Loved it😊
Another magnificent piece, Rashmi ! It reminded me of Dwipen Baruah ,a prominent Assamese singer of our time who if I am not mistaken, sang – – – – – – ” xamayar tikani aagfaale ure maamaa , jijlikaa jilikaa taraa akaashate so on and so forth . Name of the movie definitely went down the drain with my kind of memory , rusty that needs a lot of effort to bring back ,a difficult task for me.
Undoubtedly, the famous gem is more precious , priceless than any other so called gems you can get anywhere in the world .Learning how to make good use of it is tremendously important to the rise and fall of a person, I do agree fully. Needless to say this valuable piece of lesson to acquire is quintessential for each and every body from the early age of life. Loved reading it.