IN, ON, BEFORE OR AFTER THE TIME?

My friend Andrew¹  is A Swiss architect and writer. In 1980, he entrusted me with the work of translating a book on ancient Kerala architecture from Malayalam to English. He wanted me to be in Switzerland while I did the translation. During every break, my friend generously helped me travel around.

Andrew’s parents lived just a few miles away from him. Henry² and Margaret³ were a wonderful couple, and their generosity and hospitality always overwhelmed me. Henry was a World War II veteran, was kind and, above all, very informative. Though he was rather friendly, his strict military discipline always kept me at a distance. I have learned many things from him, and one thing I learned from him was keeping time. That is the theme of my writing. Margaret found that I loved the cherry cake she baked, and most of the weekends Margaret would bake cherry cake for me and invite me to their home for dinner. After dinner, Henry would declare that he had found a place to visit and ask if I would like to join him.

I was always more than ever willing to travel with him, and we three would get into his Volkswagon. We used to return late in the evening, and after dropping me off at Andrew’s apartment, his parents would say bye to me. Those were my memorable moments in Switzerland.

One Saturday morning, Andrew handed over the phone receiver to me, saying that his mother was calling me. (There were no mobile phones in those days.) Margaret was going to bake cherry cake and invited me to her home. I happily agreed that I would be at their door by 8 or 30. When I said 8–30, little did I realize what destiny had in store to teach me a lesson—a valuable lesson! Many lessons in life are like this. They will be embarrassing and a blow to your ego, but shortly turn out to be a lesson that is to be with you throughout -modifying your life.

I had to finish typing a page, and before I finished typing it at an express speed—it was 8–16. I rushed to the tram stop to realize that the 8–15 tram had left. The next tram was at 8-20.  There were ten minutes for the tram and five minutes for me to walk to Andrew’s parents’ home would make me late for five minutes. There was no time to go to a public booth and call Andrew’s parents.

While I was making these calculations and sweating in my pants, the 8-20 tram came and halted in front of me. I got into the tram as if my hurry would make the tram go faster! It was just past 8:35 when I reached Andrew’s parents’ home. When Margaret opened the door, I found that she looked worried. Usually, she would look cheerful and open the door, smiling with a warm welcome. She whispered in my ears that I was late, and it made Henry annoyed. He was in the ante room reading. She signalled for me to go and meet him. In the ante room, Henry was sitting facing a window and reading a book.

I went near him and gently said, "Hello, Mr. Henry."

He turned to me and looked at me sternly. That was the right time; and without giving him time to say anything, I continued.:

“I am extremely sorry. I am late by TEN  minutes. I had to finish some work that I had already started when Mrs Margaret called. I was keen on getting into the 8-10 tram, but I missed it by seconds."

Henry’s stern face turned brighter, and he waved at a sofa for me to sit on. He looked at me for a few moments and said, “Now take it from me. One of the greatest qualities of a person is the ability to keep time. Turning out to be late for an appointment is disgusting." He continued, “You are a young man, and I am sure that you will have to face many challenges in life. If you keep on failing to reach a place on time'', it will become your habit, and you  will never be successful in life. Further, you will  be an eyesore to others who keep time.

 “You are right Mr. Henry, and I will remember your advice always." I said. Henry was pleased and concluded, shaking my hands, “We may not be able to present on time on all occasions. If we feel that we may not be able to reach a place as we promised, we need to call the person concerned well in advance and let them know of our  helplessness."

I have never been a tardy person after Mr. Henry’s gentle reproach.  I was made into an ardent ‘time keeper’ and have always been on time, or most of the time, ‘before time’! I don’t remember even one occasion when I had to be called and said I was late.   I worked in another country as an English teacher for twelve years and had not been late to report even a single day except on leave days when I didn’t have to sign at all. On a number of occasions, I had forgotten to report, and the gentleman office assistant  located  me and ask ed me to sign the register before I went home. I always remember the office assistant with gratitude who was sure I would always be on time. It is said that if you start  doing a penance, after some time it will gradually grow into an austere penance.

 In the same way, my penance to keep time has grown into an austere penance, and I start getting restless as time slowly ticks to the targeted time. Invitations would clearly specify things like “Function starts at 8 AM,"  “Party between 5 and PM,”, “Kindly be present at 9 AM, and so on. The moment I get an invitation, my mental clock will start ticking, and I will reach the venue in fifteen to thirty minutes. Sadly, and surprisingly, there would be no one in the place except the helpers and one or two stray dogs . During  such occasions,  I would just kill time sitting in different places in the beginning and retreating to a vacant place and murmuring why they didn’t start the function  t ‘On time’. Comfortably, after half an  hour, the function started, and the organizers smiled at me, feeling shy they were late.   I looked at them, and said grinningly, “But I came before the ime."

1, 2, and 3: real names have been changed for anonymity.