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Two minutes....... The All Indian Time Standard

I continue with my theme that we as a Nation could laugh a little more at ourselves and also wonder at how amazingly similar we all are across the 28 states + 7 UTs. (Disclaimer: We have in history several famous titles with the word "minute" in them like "60 minutes", "New York Minute", "90 minutes at Entebbe" etc. Nevertheless, the title of this is not intended to be either thought provoking or in the same league as above!!! ) Travel across this country and u will find we are always "a bit late" but somehow we are always only "2 minutes" away. Call up the milk or paper guy in the morning and he is just 2 minutes away. Call him back 15 minutes later and he is still 2 minutes away. Wonder if Albert Einstein would be proud of this patron of his relativity theory or would it be Heisenberg - to see our common Indians prove his uncertainty principle each day. You live through the day and it is the taxi or the driver of your car, or the bus or the metro train or the soup you ordered at the fast food or when the show would start. You ask the question and it would always be in 2 minutes. Whether Bombay or some dusty little Fursatganj it is do minat, or "Eradu nimisha", "Rendu nimishum" or "dooy minute" or even 2 nimits in some places..... Delhi, as always, is unique and the one and only..... whatever u ask it is "do mint mey". He could be miles away from the destinaion or parked comfortably on a traffic jam but it always is, "ji, do mint mey aaya ji". And you gotta realise that 2 minutes is only when we have to do something ourselves. When we ask favours of others, we only assign half that time (maybe we are being thoughtful and waste only half of others' time)...... Haven't you heard of "hello saar, one minute...!!", "dada, ek minute", "ek minat memsaab or behenji", "okka nimisham saar"... This is got to be the Indian contribution to the Globe - the ever stretchable 2 minutes (or "do mint" in Delhi and Pnjaab - note the u missing). Could mean between 10 minutes to an hour sometimes. And there are always very good reasons - "tyre puncture", "brake cable cut", "total brake failure ji", "traffic mey phas gaya ji", "meri unkal ki daath (rhymes with Math) ho gayi thi ji", "it rained heavily last night saar", "power cut saar", any death of any politico in any state, and in recent times - bomb blast ho gaya (anywhere in India)...... These 2 minutes are held as the birth-right by every Indian. And as Coach Kabir Khan would passionately say, "yeh do minute aapse koi bhi cheen nahi sakta...... To jao aur yeh duniya se, yeh mulk se, woh har aadmi se jo tum par shaq kiya, apne aapse aur apne khuda se apna 2 minute maang lo........."

Comments

  1. Sriraman RanganathanSaturday, September 26, 2009 11:36:00 AM

    One cannot but agree with you on this '2' minutes syndrome.... I m sure my wife would cherish this.. :)

    ReplyDelete

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