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Posted by SMM on 16:10
Is being punctual a weakness these days? According to Facebook it certainly is. FB has come to this conclusion after a comparative survey conducted among my friends on strengths and weaknesses. 

Have people lost all value for time? When invited for dinner, people tend to show up at 9 - 9:30 p.m.. Arrive any earlier and you will e deemed as a vella forever. Is IST now Indian Stretchable Time? When I was in college, my friends would tell me " For us it is 8 pm and for you SMM, the time is 10 pm." That was done so as to avoid any angry scenes later, since 8 p.m.  for me is 8 p.m, and I would have invariably ended up waiting for 2 hours sending angry smses, and more often than not walking off hungry and boiling mad. Being on time these days certainly makes you a social oddity. If you actually turn up for dinner at 8 p.m., you would probably find your host lolling on the sofa in his shorts, while the hostess is still getting ready.




For me time is literally money (and the time that I am on a break, and blog, that does not count as a billable hour - FYI). I  CANNOT afford to be late. Period. 
I fail to understand how being late can be fashionable.I fail to understand that if you say 6 p.m. , and mean 8 p.m, then why can't you simply say 8 p.m. If you don't value your own time, how can I expect you to value my time.  And if you know that your going to get stuck in traffic, my logic says leave an hour early. And if you do happen to be stuck in traffic, courtesy demands that you call and inform whosoever you are meeting, and let that person take a call whether or not he wants to still stick around for the meeting. After all that person might have also made other plans. And if your busy and cannot make it, then inform the other person as soon as you arrive at that brilliant conclusion. 


I have been on the receiving end so many times that I now make it a point to inform people that I shall wait for fifteen minutes, and not a minute more, and they know that I mean it. 


"Yaheen to maar kha gaya India."
(I don't remember which movie is this line from but it seemed pretty apt as the conclusion to this post)





20 Comments


yes Yes India to maar khaa gaya!!
but please note....
I will also wait only 14mins 30 secs..... then I will go!!!


Arjun where will you go :P


i'll go somewhere....
... most likely to a pub...!!


Its good to see that there are still people who follow IST for what it is... I can so relate to this post and it reminds of all those minutes I have waited and waited just cos I was there in time.

Good one mate... Have a nice evening.. Cheers..


Punctuality. Oh well, I find that missing a lot, especially in India. Maybe that's how we are conditioned into?? The chaltha hain attitude or whatever. But yeh I do feel you on this post.


Oh maan! I am so guilty of the IST synfrome.. funnily back in India I wasnt. But after I came to CA, when we are invited to dinner, it somehows becomes half an hr later, because we know the host and hostess will be in the same situation, we were when we invited them home! :)But I'm trying to change now!


Haaaaaaaaaaaan! I have often told my phirang friends that I will arrive according to Indian Standard Time and they know that I am going to arrive late. Aadat se majboor. Buri aadat, I know!


Arjun, knowing you you will end up in CTC :P


Arv: Another victim of the "Punctuality Syndrome" :P


J: It's just soooooooo blooody pissing off when ppl get late and go like "Oye sorry yaar"


Anu: Well 8 ka 8:30 ho sakta hai, but plz not 9 - 9:30 - 10 pm right?


Solitaire: At least you inform ppl that your going to be late, unlike ppl here who don't even bother to inform that they are going to be late


what is CTC??????


great post SMM!

I hv written abt this long time ago, the day after a mate stood me up for abt an hour? yeah I was seriously pissed off.


I hate being stood up and nah I wont tolerate it. Cos to me, punctuality is VERY IMP. It shows wut kinda person u r too. It portrays ur personality and the way u do things in life.


Keshi.


CTC + Chinese and Thai cafe.Your favourite adda


keshi: I totally agree. If your going to be late and don't have the courtesy to inform the other person, then that really reflects badly on you as a person.


yes! And he didnt even give me a call or send me a txt for 60 long mins? I finally gave up (with my cheeks red in anger) and rang him up..and wut did he say...he's running a LITTLE late!

I left.

Keshi.


Oh for tht matter i hate ppl who dont respect time. I hav a bad habit of reaching the said place 5-10 mins prior to the time promised. And i do this despite knowing tht ppl wud turn up at their own sweet will!but i m glad atleast ppl around me respect time. My guy does and so does my family!


haan your right, anything over 45 mins, is too late!


i guess punctuality has lost its shine with the 'times' of india launching all over india ;)

well, was that a bad pj??? ;)

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