If I had 2 extra hours in a day, how I would spend it

Let’s accept it that one would never have two extra hours each day (literally speaking), unless time is calculated in a different manner.

To a certain extent, I agree with people who say that one can make any amount of time for things that one really wants to do. Yet, there are enough moments when I feel the need for a few extra days before an examination, a few extra hours with my girl, a few extra moments when people shower praises and a few extra seconds to be able to catch the local train back home.

There is really no rocket science here. It’s human to desire a bit more each time.

In this piece, I shall touch upon a few interesting phases from my life and the way it led to a shift in my priorities. How these changes along with a new environment around me, led to different kinds of desires that I wanted to fulfil with two extra hours each day.

Single status stage: These were my initial months in the City of Joy when I had just come out of a relationship. On one side I was struggling with living along and new city blues, on the other side, there were so many girls in my college I wanted to be better friends with. Time was the key investment required here, so that I could locate a spark to help me move on with life. Sadly, something would always come up to eat into the precious little time I got to interact with the fairer sex. As days passed and the gloom in my life grew, all I wanted was a stretch in college time. Every evening, I would look back at the day and wonder if only I had a few more hours.

Bitten by the love bug stage: Then life took a turn. I entered into my first fairy-tale relationship with that someone special. With her next to me, I often felt like walking in the clouds even at a noisy traffic junction at Park Street. We were complete foodies and would spend hours exploring nooks and corners to satiate our taste buds. However, the Cinderella in my life had to return home before it was dark each evening. Though it was painful, I could never undo this eventuality. Our conversations would continue over text messages till it was time to meet up once again the next day. While we were certain about meeting the next day, all we wished was the sun spend a couple of more hours in the sky.

Working like a dog stage: No, I didn’t want two extra hours of work although it was my first job and I wanted to make an impression. I had my complete commitment till the time I was at work, even if that extended late into the evening. However, once I left office, I had no bandwidth to think of anything remotely work related. I would enjoy the remaining part of the evening with my friends, playing games on the computer, roaming around the ‘para’, having those endless ‘adda’s’ over tea, hogging on ‘puchkas’, etc. I would sleep late and would die in no time. But the damned alarm would buzz the next morning to wake me up into reality. In those moments, I would agree to pay anything if someone would give me two more hours to sleep.

Becoming the DJ phase: Yes, I had this phase too in my life. I was learning the tricks on the Denon pitch-control in a club in Kathmandu, thanks to a friend who was the resident DJ there. Every evening after completing work, we would meet at the club and play tracks alternately till closing time. People hardly visited during the weekdays but the weekends were packed to capacity. In a matter of days, I started getting a lot of attention from the regulars as well as occasional visitors. In those days of a different kind of high, playing the last track of the evening was the worst feeling. Often, I would put the last number on loop and dance along with all those few who were still around. A few more hours to spin my favourite tunes is the feeling I slept with each night.  

Current phase: Life is a lot more sorted these days except the commute to work which remains as a pain-point. Traffic in Mumbai and the sheer distance I travel each day, eats up almost four hours of my precious time. Reading and writing are the two passions I have currently. It is not always possible to read while using public transport. It is impossible to write. There are moments when thoughts pass by and all you want is to pen them down instantly. That moment if lost rarely returns with the same intensity. I feel like losing out on so much I want to express. I feel like losing out on so much I want to learn. Wish I had just those two extra hours each day.

Of all the phases I have had till now, this seems to be the most intense. But I do know that each phase had equally intense desires when I was in them.

There are people who end up finding time against all odds for things they want to do. Honestly, I am struggling to match the standards of these people. All I wish is that I had two just two more hours each day in the literal sense. Life would have been much better.

Do share what you would like to do if you had two more hours each day. Would love to read about your desires and where they emanate from.

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