A stitch in time...

Ah wonderful rain!!! Welcome to Mumbai!!!

Well, I must (and I do) admit it's a slightly delayed welcome since it started raining at least 2 weeks back. But then I'm a "little" late on most accounts. All my friends would be incongruous to this claim; they would point out that coming 30-45 minutes late when we're meeting up to have fun or going for an outing is not exactly "little", by any standard;-))

Flashback…..
I wasn't always like this. On the contrary, I was very punctual earlier - be it at school, karate classes, music lessons, junior college and even as long as the first two-and-a-half years of engineering, I was definitely "there" before time. Ironically, I hated people who came late and I loved lecturing anyone who would listen, about punctuality and the value of time.

Then, the inevitable happened. As they say, peers are highly influential. I spent most of my time in the company of one of my bestest friends, Sajjina aka pushti aka don. She loved coming late. Late everywhere, every single time. Her 32-teeth-baring smile, the non-stop banter even after arriving late and the complete lack of remorse at making us wait was, I must say, infectious:-)). How else can I explain such a transition in my case?

We used to travel by train together to and from college and one of those times, I remember confronting saji about her “punctuality” or rather trying to convince her not to come late. However, what happened that day is here for all to see ;-)) She convinced me instead that reaching college on time (that too, only for the sake of attendance) required us to give up at least 20 minutes of sleep. And, sleep seems to be at her beautiful best every early morning ;-) So, according to her, it was definitely better to sleep for 20 more minutes and reach college close to half an hour late. I was a convert very soon. Within the month, I overtook even her record of coming late;-))

Thinking back in time, I wonder how in heaven’s name I had the guts to request my professors to let me in when I came 45 minutes late (for a lecture of 1-hour duration).

That reminds me of a funny incident. Once, I was very late for college and the first lecture was to be taken by one of our best as well as strictest teachers. Somehow, I ran up the stairs and threw myself in front of the classroom door. I could feel the whole class’s eyes upon me. I put on a sweet, honey-spread tone my usually loud, harsh voice could never match and asked the teacher if I could get in. She looked at me first for a full 5 seconds (that felt like an hour) and asked why I was late. I mumbled something about the trains being delayed and promised that I’d never be late again (but then, promises are meant to be broken, right?? ;-))..) She allowed me in.

The whole class was muttering and whispering and I presumed it was about how I could be let in so late :-). Then, ma’m looked at the class and said, “Why are you all talking?” (She should have stopped here but didn’t) and she looked at me before going on to say, “Maya never comes late. This is the first time that she’s come late, that too because the train was late.” Oh God!!! The laugh riot and the din that followed this statement of hers, was so uncharacteristic of our usually well-behaved class ;-). Even I burst out laughing and I can’t forget the look on Sujatha’s face as she giggled and snorted holding her handkerchief pressed tightly over her mouth;-)) Tears were flowing freely from our eyes and our abdomens were full of pain from laughing when the bell rang signaling the end of that lecture.

This wasn’t an isolated episode. At college, whenever I came late, two of my best friends from IT, swapna and surekha glared (because I came late) and giggled (at my shamelessness) as they watched me from their classroom (which adjoined ours). What else could they do to me as I walked past their classroom to mine, bracing myself to try and somehow persuade the teacher to let me in for the lecture ;-)
Oh! I couldn’t count the number of times swap and sur (as we fondly call the two of them) tried to reason with me and later, reprimanded me. After a point, both of them lost hope; I knew that this was the point when they realized that their attempts at trying to convince me to be punctual were futile;-)

Fast-forward to the present (as there’s nothing more to add that is relevant to this post).

I’m afraid, though, that these incidents haven’t exactly taught me to behave myself and practice punctuality daily. I continue to be “slightly” late whenever and wherever. I somehow manage to board the office bus (thanks to my colleagues who board from the same stop and hold up the bus for me;-))…). I know, it’s a mistake, but then it takes time to improve;-)

I’d really like to know who said, “Old habits die hard”. It took just about 2-3 days of brainwashing on sajjina’s part to get me to come late although I’d been punctual for years together. I am not making silly insinuations nor am I holding saji responsible for my being a latecomer, although I don’t completely deny her influence in my transformation.

Sometime soon I’ll get back to being punctual and that really had better be sooner than later (for my own good). Not everyone would be as kind-hearted and as unnoticing as my wonderful professor;-))

Hmmm….Come to think of it, this should give all my readers (oh, there are people who read my blog too!!!) a fair idea of what nonsense I write, isn’t it? I started off this post welcoming the rains to Mumbai and look at what I’ve come up with;-)) I should’ve known better than to start blogging. But, if I’d known, you wouldn’t be reading this masterpiece ;-)))……..