There's a right time for everything

Is there a right time to do everything in life? This was the question that came up in my mind when I was talking to a colleague of mine the other day over coffee. I thought the answer was simple – there is no right time defined for everything in life – things can be done as and when you want them to be done. But, I realised that it isn’t that simple. Can an 18-year-old start going to school to learn things from scratch? Can a 40-year-old man go the pub and party all night long? Can a couple married for 20 odd years behave like love struck teenagers? I always thought that the answer to those questions was a unanimous, big yes.

Today, I realise that there are people who beg to differ. I have been meeting them of late. People who divide life into phases and move along. People who feel marriage at the age of 30 is madness. People who feel that the first two years of marriage are the most pleasant ones. People who think that studying beyond the age of 25 is foolishness. People who feel there should be an end to the learning phase of life. People who feel that old age is about pilgrimage, pills and meditation. People who feel that a display of love and affection between our grandmothers and grandfathers is an abnormality. Well, they have their own reasons and beliefs for their line of thought and I respect that, but come on people! Give it a thought once again – please!!!

Digressing away from what I have been wanting to say, the one thing which amuses me the most and which I think I have to mention here is the perception of knowledge among people. I have come across several people who hate reading, saying that their forced relationship with books ended way back in college and they prefer to keep it that way. Well, I feel sorry for the lot – do they have any clue about the huge gamut of ideas, notions, perceptions, thoughts and knowledge that they are missing out on? I can only guess. If it works just fine for them, all I can say is – good for you.

But, even otherwise, in our daily life, why are we, at times, bad learners? Why is it so difficult for us to accept when we don’t know something? I have seen people at my office – even when they don’t know things, they try and put on an act, accompanied by convincing software jargon, just to make you believe that they are technical big shots. Do they have any idea that their act is so transparent that their ignorance is blatantly visible? Why is it that after 8 years of working in the software field, people find it insulting to refer back to a book and get the right answers? The more I thought about it, the more I was asking one question to myself again and again. When do we decide that we need to stop learning? When do we feel that we know enough? Is it a conscious decision?

I have seen a scientist – a very good one at that. I think he’s one wise man and knows quite a lot about his subject, but I have seen him study for hours at stretch – daily - I have never seen him get tired of it. For him, studying is a habit. He tells me that I should inculcate that habit as well. I have always made an effort but when I look at him, I realise that I have a long way to go. That’s a timeless effort – for him, no time is a bad time to study. I am sure when he’s 90, he still will be reading, sitting on his favorite chair, with Kalam’s biography to his right and Bhagvadgita to his left.

Getting back to the discussion on time, this scientist was the man who made me believe that any time is the right time to do anything that I want to do. Time is money – an essential commodity – learn to use it well and more than that - learn to use it right. But most importantly, learn not to make it an excuse, saying this is not the right time for so and so.

Well, all said and done, time – excess of it or absence of it – can be a real, good excuse for several things. We love to believe that we are indeed using the time at hand well - there is a lot of time to do all those things I want to do – this is not the right time – this should have been done way back then – this is not the age to learn dancing – this is not the age to learn something about astronomy. Amidst all the alibis we keep searching for – frantically - in the past and the future, the importance of present is lost, somewhere along the way – we forget that what do we do with our now determines our next. Why do we underestimate "now" so much?

A cheesy line sums it up the best – where there is a will, there is a way and where there is no will, there is a hill. Now, time for me to stop here, but I would like to know what you have to say about the "right time for everything" concept.