ANXIETY FACTOR On Being Punctual
Subhash Kaura Some people hate to keep things pending or to be late and thus remain anxious all the time, which may be a good trait, except that it can also land them in odd situations at times, such as arriving at a wedding venue even before the hosts. These people live life by the motto ‘better do today what you intend to do tomorrow’. There is another set of people who believe that haste makes waste, however, and thus tend to defer taking action as long as possible. Their philosophy of life says, ‘don’t do today what you can do tomorrow’, because, if you put it off long enough, you may never have to do it! The first category is the type that believes tomorrow never comes. However, as each day is limited to 24 hours, and human capacity to work non-stop is also limited, how much can a person pack in for completing in a single day? Certain things are bound to remain pending. This becomes a matter of great concern for the anxiety strung who want things done and settled today. A dear relative, an ex-defence personnel now residing in Pune, is very punctual, but also anxiety-prone by nature. He was in New Delhi recently and had duly booked his return to Pune by train well in advance. On the scheduled day of return, he got ready and got his bags packed well in time and arranged for a taxi to drop him at the railway station at least half an hour before the departure of the train, which was at 11 a.m. So he bid us goodbye at 9.30 a.m., keeping a safe margin of one hour to drive through Delhi’s chaotic and slow moving traffic. We were, therefore, amazed to see him back at our door at around 12.30 p.m. It turned out that when he tried to board the train at the station, he could not find his name anywhere in the list displayed outside the reserved compartment. So he approached the railway official to find out what had gone wrong. He was told that he was booked on the train leaving the next day and he’d reached 24 hours in advance! Rather than spending a day at the station to avoid being laughed at by all, he had decided that it was better to stay in the cozy comfort of our home and bravely face some teasing.
