My dear grandfather sits over the charpai, his legs crossed and I am sitting in his lap. His tender hand touches my face and I feel the warmth radiated in my body. Suddenly, his fragile voice awakes me from my dreams.

He says, “My dear child, have you ever dreamt of having a bank account that gives you $86,400 every day?”

I stare at him and reply, “Of course my dear dadaji! How comfortable would life be if that were true?”

My grandfather replies, “It is true, my beloved gentlemen.”

I jump with joy and exclaim, “Where is it? I want that account!”

He grins at me and says, “Leave that point. Tell me if the bank said that you had to do withdraw $86,400 the same day or else in the evening, it would cancel whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do?”

I reply, “I would draw out every dollar each day!”

He then shifts his legs and keeps them dangling on the floor. Then with a short sigh, he says, “Let me introduce you to that bank. However there are some terms. First of all, I make myself clear that although the bank does not give real cash, it gives something more valuable than that. And, do you promise that if I reveal the secret, you will draw all the value the bank gives and waste none? And lastly, do not interrupt me when I am talking, you will get the answers.”

I quickly agree to his points.

“So my dear grandson, the name of this bank is ‘Time’. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever time you have failed to use wisely. It carries over no balance from day to day. It allows no overdraft so you cannot borrow against yourself or use more time than you have.

“Each day, the account starts fresh. Each night, it destroys all the unused time. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, it is your loss and you cannot appeal to get it back.”

My grandfather takes a rest and continues, “There is never any borrowing of time. You cannot take a loan out on your time or against someone else’s. The time you have is the time you have and that is that. Time management is yours to decide how you spend the time, just as with money, you decide how you spend the money. It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do them and where they fall in our priorities. This is what I have learned from my life. If you follow my guidelines, you will love your life and life will love you.”

With this, I depart my dearest grandfather’s room and whose smile at that time brightens my heart.

Now readers, never forget this example. View time money in a bank account and never waste time.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 19th, 2020