|
|
|
February 3, 2005
How late is ‘late’?
We Pakistanis, when in Pakistan, are notorious for doing nothing on time — or almost nothing. Is it because we cannot, or do not wish to?
I believe it is neither. In fact, we are randomly selective, according to a system of priorities based on our own experience — whereby we reach the airport an hour or two before our flight, drop our kids off to school quite punctually, reach a function hosted by a foreign consulate at about the time noted on the invitation, but don’t see anything wrong with walking into a theatre performance an hour late, reaching a wedding event around 10pm or even later, and a classical music farshi-nashist close to midnight, after attending two weddings, in total disregard to the time of invitation, even if it says “8:00 pm sharp.”
After observing this gradually deteriorating trend for some years, I have begun to see a discernible pattern in our apparent randomness, and astute reasoning behind our seemingly habitual tardiness. In fact we get congratulated when we reach a wedding two hours later than invited, by those who feel foolish to have come earlier, “Yaar, you are just in time,” because dinner is about to be served.
Can it get any worse?
You look at each invitation and immediately ask yourself if the event is likely to be on time. If you believe so, you make all possible efforts, barring a last minute visitor, or a traffic hold-up, to be there punctually. Otherwise you try to guess how tardy the organizers or hosts themselves are likely to be, and whether you feel inclined to be there early, waiting for the show to start.
My wife and I often differ on our estimation in such cases. Whereas she is normally very punctual in her commitments, she knows there is no point in taking the ‘time on the card’ too literally. However, she is inclined to relate our time of arrival at an event somehow to the time given.
I, on the other hand, have little desire to waste my time waiting it out, and feel that particular events have a particular pattern of warming up for the action, irrespective of the time given. I like to get there cleverly, not foolishly on time, if you know what I mean. If we were always to follow my wife’s instincts, I would probably be finishing off a good novel every month just sitting around waiting here and there.
However, I must confess, even I get fooled now and then, but I can assure you that, in the past 25 years we have not missed the start of a show, or a dinner at a wedding.
Being an architect, I meet a lot of new clients. My primary request, and it often has to be made specifically, is that they should come for meetings or a rendezvous at the time mutually agreed on. They oblige, albeit a bit grudgingly. But even I often fail to motivate my staff to come to work daily on time.
Interestingly, when going for an appointment with the doctor or specialist, we are generally punctual, although we know that the doctor will almost never be. We just tolerate this blatant mistreatment, keeping ourselves occupied with old magazines and other worthless publications we wouldn’t otherwise touch.
It is perhaps this capacity for bearing the tardiness of others that keeps making matters worse. We are extremely intolerant of other people’s viewpoints where our religious beliefs are concerned, yet we passively accept the uncertainties of transport and traffic; we bend backwards to allow petty functionaries at public utilities, tax or passport offices to make us waste valuable working time; we accept violations of our rights when others break the queue, or of the law when people jump the traffic light.
We allow organizers and hosts to take their own time to start an event, no matter how long the audience and guests have been waiting. Organizers, on the other hand, complain that people here are habitual late comers. If invited at 8, they show up at 10. If invited at 10, they will come even later. So they build a margin every time.
Can you see a reversal of these trends in our society in the near future? When will people start taking their time commitments seriously, realizing that it is a valuable resource wasted, be it our own or others’ time.
When will public transport and traffic on the roads become reliable and predictable enough not to be used as an excuse for being late. When will a baraat reach a nikah ceremony promptly? When will local organizers of shows become punctual? As soon as they take their time literally by the clock, so will those invited realize that it is not a clever thing to try to reach the musical evening after the two weddings. You have to choose. If you choose to be late, you should be prepared to miss the show. Better luck next time.
|
|
|
|
