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.
Follow me on Twitter
Rahul Chawra on Twitter
