What waiting in Kashmir taught me about time

By: M. Ashraf Fazili (Former Chief Engineer, J&K Govt)

In our 7th class textbook there was a lesson about the importance of time, where it was written that “Grandfather says Time waits for none, not even for the king.” Thus, he who makes full use of time succeeds in his life.

According to the Holy Quran, translation & commentary by Abdullah Yousuf Ali, it is stated in Surah 103, Ayat 1: Allah says, “By (the token of) Time (through the ages), Verily Man is in loss, Except such as have faith, And do righteous deeds, And (join together), In the mutual teaching of Truth, and Patience and Constancy.”

In the footnote it is stated that an appeal is made to Time as one of the creations of Allah, of which everyone knows something, but of which no one can fully explain the exact significance. Time searches out and destroys everything material. No one in secular literature has expressed the tyranny of “never resting time” better than Shakespeare in his Sonnets. For example, see Sonnet 5 (“never resting time”), (“Nothing against Time’s scythe can make defence”), and (“When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced, the rich proud cost of outworn buried age”). If we merely run a race against Time we shall lose. It is the spiritual part of us that conquers Time.

It is an established fact that time is a valuable resource that plays a vital role in our lives. The reasons are explained as under:

• Time is a limited resource and once lost, it can’t be regained. This scarcity makes it essential to use time wisely.

• Time management is critical for achieving goals, whether personal or professional. Prioritizing tasks and allocating time effectively helps in accomplishing objectives.

• By effective time management we boost productivity, enabling individuals to complete tasks efficiently and make the most of their time.

• Poor time management leads to stress, while the reverse is true with good time management through timely completion of tasks.

• To maintain a healthy work-life balance, thereby letting individuals assign time for personal and professional assignments, time management is vital.

• For selecting one activity instead of another, the decision to spend time involves the sacrifice of an opportunity. By this concept, making informed decisions about time allocation is helpful.

• For learning, development, and personal growth, time is essential. Time allocation for activities like reading, learning skills, or exercising impacts one’s life.

• Thus, by recognizing the importance of time and managing it effectively, one can achieve his goals by prioritizing tasks and allocating time wisely.

• By completing tasks on time and avoiding last-minute rushes, stress gets reduced.

Overall, time is a precious resource that requires careful management to achieve success and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

But against all this conception about time, Walter R. Lawrence, Settlement Commissioner of Kashmir, states in his book “The Valley of Kashmir” over a century back, that “the pace of life of Kashmiris goes along with the slow speed of River Jhelum.” Once we go to the plains, we feel the change in the speed of life.

We wait for hours together when invited to marriage feasts, as all the guests rarely arrive at the time mentioned in the invitation cards. But against this, we raise hue and cry if there is a few minutes’ delay in prayer times in a masjid. Some time back when a person raised his voice for the late arrival of Imam Saheb by a few minutes, I asked him: Do you know when the watch was invented? It is hardly one or two centuries back; hence, prior to that the timing of prayers would be determined by the position of the sun, and the time of prayer varied between the initial time and the final time.

But on the whole, it is seen that we are not as punctual as we must be. Although with the increase of vehicular traffic on roads we have to face delays due to traffic jams, that calls for leaving homes earlier to cover the time lost in the traffic jam, etc.

The training for punctuality of time should start from childhood. I know a businessman who often loses his air flight on most occasions, and he admits that despite all efforts he is not able to be in time.

However, with the introduction of the biometric attendance system, there has been a great improvement in the timely attendance of office people.

Hence, I have learned a lesson to keep a margin of at least an hour for any unforeseen delay due to one reason or another, to reach the destination ahead of time rather than cut a sorry figure later on.