In Time

You have an appointment at a a doctor’s office. You have an appointment for an interview. You have a train to catch. You have a flight that you can’t miss. Guess, what do you do first in all of these? You arrive in time for each one of them! What happens if you reach late for any of them? Simple, your appointment will stand cancelled, you will not get the job, and you will miss your train or flight.

Why then we don’t keep time if there is a personal party to which we all get invited occasionally. This is especially true for us Indians as a community. I have rarely seen people coming to a party at 6:30 PM when the host requested for a 6:30 PM start. Invariably, you will see the guest trickle in after an hour of the scheduled time. My question is - if we can keep our time for all other activities then why not for parties that we all get invited at some time or the other? Throughout my life I have seen consistent behavior of people to think it’s inappropriate to reach such events in time.

Think of it this way. In US, the school authorities invite the police and fire personnel to meet the kids in Kindergarten classes. It is done with a purpose, to learn to respect the law and law enforcing agencies at a very impressionable age. When these kids grow up no one need to tell them to obey the law of the land. It has been ingrained in their system. Keeping time is a similar trait that must be learnt irrespective of where you are going. If these lessons are not inculcated while you are young, you are sure to have a generation that do not understand the importance of managing time and become disoriented. The nation cannot prosper with such citizens.

I have seen this habit in mostly us, the Indians living in US. Without even blinking we add an hour or so to the start time of the party. Let’s think about this. Is that the correct example we are setting for our kids? Don’t we understand that such value systems will be detrimental when they grow up and enter their adult life?.

Each one of us can set the example. You don’t need to feel embarrassed if you reach in time, even if there is no one other than the host. If people show up in time then that creates a message for everyone that let’s be in time for next such similar event. This ultimately creates a movement that makes us keep time and be disciplined. Leading a change for anything is quite difficult. It needs some forward thinking and sticking to your values. Please take the first step forward and help others to change their mindset that says - since no one comes in time why should I keep the time? I am sure with everyone’s involvement we will remove this disease from our society and people will take pride in keeping times be it professional / personal appointments or an informal get together like a party. Our kids need such important value system like keeping time irrespective of the event from us as parents and we must set the right example for them.