Waste of Time

I could never muster enough confidence to actually pronounce these words “waste of time” on my own behalf! May be I had to mumble it a few times during these years of my life, just because it might comfort somebody due to the advantage of the situation. I could not really grasp the significance of it! The opposite of it, widely acceptable form of it that is, might be “best use of time”. Yeah! I could feel a bit more comfortable, attempting to deal with how to make the “best use of time” more so when I was a kid, and it was our school’s ‘summer-holidays’ or in the words of our unlettered grand-parents, ‘long-holidays’. The childhood innocence never seemed to really work well, to handle material aspect of life! The way these grandparents used to mention it, when they said that they were so eagerly awaiting us, I thought of trying to be ‘with them’ continuous, or non-stop at the very first chance after landing at our native village. But, too soon, they would say, “Okay, now let me get on with my work, be off, to play outside and come back home at meal-time”! I wondered, why they are unable to tolerate me continuous for too long? But, now that is not a problem. Even my long mails are seldom tolerated!

So, the best use of time, or waste of time, seemed too relative. Sitting outside the ICU leaving all the important work, there would be a herd of close relatives, doing almost nothing, but nobody would dare think of the time spent thus as a waste! In all probability, the time invested by these people out side the ICU might never get ‘reported’ to the patient, who is their ‘close’ one! And then, we have stories, where people quarrel all the time, and much later realize that the time they spent quarreling thus was the best period of their togetherness! We have those mythical stories where the ‘devotee’ was befriended by his/her lord all along, while they thought that this accompaniment was a nuisance all the while! Some where the candidate for a job got that edge over his only sole rival because he could quote having spent time to acquire additional skill at little bit of imaginative painting(which seemed utter waste of time then), which appealed to the job-giver as some special skill required for a web-designing-software-engineer!

What about a wrong choice of life partner? It seems too scary to think of a whole of lifetime wasted!

Then there is another ‘testing-time’…. I am reminded of an old joke. A King wished to know what would give the maximum happiness/joy/satisfaction. The minister was too annoyed by bouts of such questions from the king, overlooking other pressing matters of the state, and happened to blurt out that ‘it was emptying of bowels early, the first thing in the morning’ The King got too annoyed at this reply, and asked the minister to prove it, or else…. The minister humbly requested more time. A month was granted. Now the minister knew that the king’s mind never stayed too long on one topic or issue, and felt that it would tide over. But a month passed, and the minister was apprehensive. An idea occurred to him. In those days, only the Royal occupants of the house hold had the luxury of that ‘attached’ toilet, since it was too difficult to maintain it with open-manual-handling of night soil. So, only two people used the ‘royal’ toilet. The queen, besides the king himself. The minister cleverly placed the small water carrying vessel outside the door, to indicate that it was ‘occupied’. There was a practice to use this vessel to avoid the embarrassment of announcing it loudly… it was a ‘royal’ household, after all! The King made several rounds along the toilet, and was stupefied thinking ‘why is it taking her so long today?’… The pressure mounted and when the minister thought it was enough, he seized the right moment to get that vessel removed to indicate the line-was-clear. The king, as soon as he came out, heaved a huge sigh of relief, and said, “nothing gives more joy that this!” The minister lost no time in reminding the king of his commitment to prove it. Now the king knew the person behind this mischief. (I had heard this story, when I was a kid, and even enjoyed it, but was left wondering about the ‘waiting’ time, its utility-level, etc!).

So, that adage, “time is money”, etc doesn’t clarify our basic doubts beyond a point. Anyway, I did spend some time here, and also to answer a question about it.

The asker seemed to be impressed, and was even eager to reassure me that the question was with a ‘positive’ outlook!

Psn(10th September, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100908235517AAojQCU
Isn't most of what we do in life a waste of time?
Authors spend countless hours writing manuscripts that never sell. The unemployed spend enormous amounts of time job-hunting and going to interviews only to end up where they started - without a job. We pursue dreams that amount to nothing, sit in front of the TV and learn nothing, then go to bed only to get up the next morning and repeat the same round of unproductive and unrewarding experiences. It seems the majority of our lives are spent doing things that have no lasting meaning or value. Am I correct?

My answer:
That is why we have so many questions, repeated so many times, asking for the meaning of life.
The bulk of us seem to do nothing different from what ancient people did, except for the sophistication. TV sets tell us stories, instead of the old man in the caves to his grandchildren. Hunting for food has become hunting for job, paid pure water, pure air, pure love even, surplus of emission entitlements to trade, etc.
The question is correct.
The answer is a bit difficult. Logically, we seem to be inferior to all other living beings, physiologically. The stupid owl sees better. The slowest deer would any time defeat our olympic runner. We cannot free ourselves if a tiny monkey grips our wrist!
Only if our priorities shift, and this seeking the purpose of life seems reasonably important, there is a possibility that we make the best use of a gift unique to us, the humans. That self awareness. Irrespective of our performance, results, achievements, failures on the outside, we all have that wonderful opportunity to evolve within. The incidental side-benefit is that the handling of material aspect of life becomes effortless, though it may start to seem insignificant. We have several instances of the most accomplished people turning inwards. Very recently, a mathematician who happened to solve a 104 year puzzle, declined the most coveted award, retired from limelight and chose to live a hermit's life at a village very near city of Moscow or so, with his mother (it was a newspaper report). Two richest men of the world decide to give the bulk of their accumulated wealth in charity. Einstien wished during his last days, that if there is a rebirth, he would like to be just a farmer! (There was a whole society in ancient India that resolved this question conclusively, by evolving a way of life, where in the bulk of the people effortlessly reach the highest human possibility!)

Nice question. The best part is to keep this question a bit 'alive'. It does not cost anything, and does not come in the way of what ever we do to handle the routine life outside!