Time

TIME

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

We've all heard the 'old-wives-tale': 'Time is precious, time is money' etc but do we really understand time? Do we understand the time it takes for a person to develop completely? Time is a many mysteries which many great philosophers, writers, poets attempted to describe in their work. If one must think, it is a thing with feathers sitting on which we fly through our lives. Someone described the Taj Mahal as "a teardrop on the cheeks of time", now that's really poetic!

I would admit it that my idea behind posting on 'Time' was greatly influenced by Hans Zimmer's latest musical piece titled 'Time' from the musical score of Christopher Nolan's hugely infamous, 'Inception'. The music kicks-off with very mild piano strokes alongwith light cello, it start's off slowly but slowly it takes pace also addition of instruments like drums and guitar & it gradually turns into an opera, a gust of wind that tentalizes the very soul. With the addition of violin & bugle, the music makes an everlasting impression. The music ends with the strokes of piano which again normalizes the pace/tempo. I could go on & on so let's shift out focus to the topic rather than it's inspiration else this post will turn out to be a Music-Review post.

But time, seriously, is like a smoke which we all see but can't control. It's like a bullet which once shot cannot be turned back. We're the slaves of time & nature. Time is not in our hands, unless we believe so. When we're born, there is a lot of time to play or to waste, like some might prefer. We were full of energy & there was no limit of time, as we believed. We had no specific criteria to befriend others, the only criteria was that the other child must have chocolate or some really cool toys! And we spent our childhood playing with them. Our parents were also involved in their 'child's play' but the reasons were different, we played to pass the time whereas they played to 'join' us through which they revitalized themselves. As we grow up, the time remains the same but we change. We 'prioritize' our life, become more compartmentalized & realize the importance of time.

I believe that the only time that is wasted is, the time we spend on conquering it! To conquer time is to conquer death -which is not possible. Instead of conquering it, we should be in rhythm with it's flow & make the best of it

TIME FLIES!:

It is said that 'Time & tide wait for none' which is illustrated below. People always complain that they had 'no time' to justify their actions but how is it that the same time gets shortened for the same person! As I mentioned above, we compartmentalize ourselves & thus realize our responsibilities towards our commitments. "Time is precious, indeeed!", we think. For people who work the time passes like the blink of any eye. They're so pre-loaded with work that they literally have 'no idea' of time. It becomes a rare opportunity to find that person relaxing. There are adverse effects of this 'lifestyle' such as the person isn't able to dedicate his time towards his friends/family/hobbies. This is actually what people call 'brain drain' & time is the key ingredient of this as they 'must complete their work in time'. There has to be a saturation point where the person, metaphorically, presses the 'reset' button so as to 'spend some time with his-self'. 

Time not only flies when a person is busy but also whenever the person is on a relaxing zone after 'too-much work'. It is rightly believed that 'Time flies when we're having fun'. The most mundane example is of watching a movie: the movie ends quickly(for us) when we like it but it continues 'till ages'(for us) when the movie has pace-issues. Therefore, it clearly abides that the 'moment' of time is directly proportional to the pace of things around us! Thus, all we need to do is know when to speed-up our surroundings & cope-up with it. It is not even close of being easy! Like no good comes without satisfactory efforts, the wheel of time also remains at par distance from us, unless we apply some efforts. Time never changes, it just unfolds us!

"Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.” - Stacey Charter

TIME?

Then there are those in complete contrast, rather there are more situations than the persons that contrasts the whole 'ethics of time'. When a person, for example a student, has his vacations; the days pass 'like a week' but the day 'seems like a month'! Note the difference between days & day. When we think of vacation as a 'whole', "it seemed only like yesterday when it was announced" - we think but while in a sunny day of vacation we think - "Oh, I was better off at school rather than sitting at home through light years!". The key is simple like I mentioned above, it all depends on the 'pace' of our surroundings, much less ours. If we work even the half of our surroundings, the time flies... When we grieve, all we remember was 'the time we had'. We always think after realizing our mistakes - 'Should I was able to go back in time, then I would have...' It's all time! We can't change our past but we can surely ruin our present by worrying about the future!

Time is of such an importance that it is used as a tool of measuring a person's age, leading to the amount of 'time' spent 'living' by that person. Man hasn't understood time, like many other things that's why we write all the abstruse & obviously philosophical things about it! And like many other things, human's understand the importance of time only when put on a deadline. We realize at that time, actually, was not a thing that we kept in our pockets & claimed as ours . Time can be thought of as the most cruelest, un-empathetical teacher who first takes the test & then teaches the lesson!

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” - Leonard Berstein

Coming back to the music track 'Time', if you forget all the facts associated with it(even that it's from Inception), then you might get a more clearer idea of what I had attempted to say above. It is slow in the beginning, describing the children that we were. Then cello & drums take control, signifying our 'young-age' & the 'excuses' that we make regarding time. After that, violin & guitar drive the music to it's conclusion which beautifully signifies the importance of 'time' and that we must all be learned & intimate with it. But, like a dialogue in The Prestige -"People won't clap at the second act i.e. The Turn....", the listener won't be contempt with the music till it finally concludes with brilliant solo piano stroke which nicely symbolises that till the time we understand 'time', it's 'too late'! If it is to be made more dramatical, the music can be divided into 3 parts that were used in Chris Nolan's, The Prestige; the initial part can be thought of as The Pledge where, we're brought into the world with a lot of responsibilities but we really never understand them, neither do we try! The second part can be termed as The Turn where, our life changes dramatically as we are finally made intimate with our responsibilities, our work etc. The concluding part if The Prestige where, till the time we understand 'time', the 'time' again prevails in keeping it's secrets, secrets!

The journey of life continues with 'time' as we explore the good - the bad, the string - the weak, the beautiful - the ugly etc but we ultimately strive for one thing i.e. Peace of Mind which we can only attain if we really 'flow with the time' because it is never possible to be 'ahead of time'. Like light never knows that even though it travels so quickly, darkness has already reached & is waiting for light; similarly fools(human's) think that they out-ran time, time had already reached it's destination! Afterall, in youth we learn, in time we understand! Time has the most supreme power, the one which can rob our present & future and turn us into our past selves!

“In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” - Albert Schweitzer 

On a personal note I'd like to confess that this (Time) is my most passionate post till date.All I can say is... ...it took time for me to understand 'time' & to express it might take a little more 'time'.