Time and Punctuality

What is time? 

What is Punctuality?

Punctuality, as we normally understand, is to do with honoring a commitment at an agreed time. But there is another aspect to punctuality; and that is about honoring your commitment, per se. We will not deal with the second part here, because there’s probably a school of thought which believes that should not be called punctuality. We’ll let that rest for the time being.

“Time” has no definition in any dictionary. Time is what time does or that which is. If I were to ask five different questions with “time” in it, I am sure the answers in each would be different. For instance: -

1.       What time is it?          - This speaks about clock time

2.       Give me some time     - This is a request for some attention/involvement

3.       My time is not good     - This is about the situation in life at the moment

4.       My time has come       - This is a terminal situation

5.       When time is no more - Does this talk about doomsday?

Punctuality, in the way we are dealing with, means, when I give a commitment to arrive or depart at a given clock time or do a task within an agreed clock time, I honor that commitment. In that respect punctuality is only a measure of how one person has used clock time to accomplish a given commitment. Viewed in that perspective does punctuality as a concept, become “robotic”? Food for thought, isn’t it?

Many years ago, when I wasn’t qualified, one of my future clients, who had an association with Germans, chided me for coming late for an appointment. As a youngster, I took his admonishments to heart and in my immaturity, told myself that I’d not work for him ever. It is quite a different thing that over 2 ½ decades of practice, we became so close that we learnt off each other, and in the bargain, grew ourselves internally. Later in practice, as I tried to keep up my commitment to be present at meetings within the agreed clock time, I developed irritability at others keeping me waiting. It is then probably that I realized, punctuality means differently to different people.

Returning to Time, Vedanta says, Time is born in the interval between two thoughts. 

When there are no thoughts, there is no time. Think. 

Actually our lives are nothing other than a basket of past, present and future moments. Regretting over unhappy or unpleasant past moments, anxious about yet-to-be-born future expected moments and excited about what we are engaged in the present moment, we forget who we are and what are capable of; leading our lives without knowing the purpose for which we have arrived in this world. Drawing a Balance Sheet of our Life at the end, we wonder, where am I and what did I do? This introspection is a necessary part of our lives, in day-to-day living, to enable us to become happy and contented.

Concluding, I would say, Time, as we understand in daily living is only a tool of measurement. Punctuality’s sole intent is to maximize the happiness at the present moment, which is the only moment available with us, until Time with us, shall be no more.

Prem & Om

Suresh