Where does time go?
And what have you done in all that time?
Could you have done more?
After thousands of years of civilization and centuries of creating clocks, we still haven’t figured out “time”.
So, why do we allow this ungraspable beast to be one of the most defining measures of our life?
As I look back on my years on Earth, the fabric of time appears tattered, full of visible stitches.
“Mujhko bhi tarkeeb sikha koi yaar julahe,” Gulzar’s soulful yearning for the weaver’s ability to stitch the warp and weft of life as if it was never torn echoes in my mind as I embark upon these musings.
I had a thousand reasons to do the things I did, to take the decisions I ended up taking—landing exactly where I am today. Some of them were logical, most now seem illogical, driven primarily by the need of the moment or the less-than-perfect context we all operate with.
But there’s one single reason to rule them all: destiny.
“Aakhir destiny bhi koi cheez hai,” I recall the words of Dhirubhai Ambani spoken for an occasion I forget. (Translation: After all, there’s something called destiny.)
I used to have many regrets but, ever since I started on my meditative journey a few years back, they have more or less melted away in the sea of existence. Waves come and go, come and go…until all I see is a tranquil ocean of happy peace.
Happy peace? What’s that? (Let's keep it for some other time, dear.)
Well, what perhaps still riles or amuses some of my friends is the innumerable number of job-switches I made in my career.
Career. What a funny word, loaded with effort, time, and tricks of fate.
There you go: time to face “time” again. Sometime back, I had written a post on “a quarter century” of my career and the lessons I learned along the way.
This time around, I’ve got news for you. There’s no longer any career as far as I’m concerned.
While you could attribute some of that to ChatGPT and its ilk, it’s mostly about reaching an age (and a stage) where you want to pick a few things out of the many thrown your way—and see what gives.
For me, one clear benefit of all those frequent “career moves” is that I’ve made lots of friends (In fact, I’m notorious for turning my bosses as well juniors into friends over time).
Thankfully, they all throw something or the other to me every once in a while: “Catch, Sanjay!”
So, I catch some of those opps and let others bounce off.
But isn’t that an unpredictable, risky way to earn a living, you ask?
In reply, I would just say, from experience as well as some foresight, “Well, have you heard of the best laid plans of mice and men?” (The phrase is courtesy of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.)
All in all, people and most gods have been kind to me. Why, I have lived a fairly good, interesting life—and continue to look forward to the full-tosses and googlies in equal measure.
By monetary yardsticks, I have been moderately successful. Which is perfect for a guy who never ran after money and possibly never will (In retaliation, money didn’t run after me either, which is okay, for we both took a little walk together nonetheless.)
Besides, how much money would anyone need if they want to spend it on books, chai, and music?
Now, coming back to time, I don’t know how much of it is left—in absolute terms or for me per se.
And, by the way, what happens to time when our crazy ways have brought apocalypse to the human race? (I have this hunch that not all species will go extinct before we do.)
Will the insects and the birds and the horses worry about where the hell did all the time go?
No, time will not tell!
Neither can I.
Let’s “circle back” in a few years, shall we?
Buh-bye for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment