Have you ever been a victim of this malice, or, are you plagued by this sore as well, just like many of us? You are not alone!
Have you been on the receiving end or listened to anyone giving this, what I call as a 5-minute alibi, for their time commitment, when you know for sure, the 300 seconds – is a good amount of time to accomplish many a thing in this world – for sure would not suffice the activity in hand?
“You said you will be here by 9:00 AM, where are you?”
“I am caught in the traffic, sir. Will be there in 5 minutes!”
“So, how long this will this thing take?”
“5 minutes sir, it will be ready!”
During a recent train ride, I happened to eavesdrop over a mobile phone conversation of my co-passenger. We are at least 3 stations before the final halt and I have no idea, from that final destination, where he has to go to meet his client.
“Sir, will be there in 10 minutes sir.”
“…”
“hehe, no sir, just 5 more minutes, I will see you. hehe”
He shut off his phone, without a semblance of remorse for what he just committed.
First of all, from where we were to where he has to go, I cannot understand how that 10 minutes got reduced into 5 minutes, unless my friend has got the super natural power to speed up the train or fly out like a Superman!
Jokes apart, the point is that, when it comes to Time, I can’t believe why on earth we commit something, which we know for sure we cannot meet. Or, how did we lose significance of the units of time and started pulling numbers out of thin air. But, we all do that quite naturally.
Many a time, I have been a victim of these false jives, watching my 2 an 5 minutes promises turn up into hours, waiting for my fellow individual to show up.
This is not limited to individuals alone. Have you listened to the continuous machinated rants in our railway stations?
“Train No. 1234, bound for … will arrive shortly on platform number…”.
Unable to comprehend the term ‘shortly’, I keep waiting and even cross the dreaded, yet obscure, yellow line to take a peek into rail track. After a good 15-20 minutes, there you have the divine emergence of the black monster, chugging at its own pace, perhaps, based on the mood of the engine driver.
Agreed, we live in a complex world, and the infrastructural deficiencies add up to the error factor. But, most often, without making any attempt to predict the actual, we end up erring by a huge margin.
It is always the case of, throw some number and care less of the reality, with the modern day time machine dangling around our wrists more for ornamental reasons.
