Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Time Flies

A few days back a small innocent comment made by an old friend triggered a new series of thought and interpretation of life.
Actually, during a small talk with a colleague the name of my friend Vikas came up and I realized that I have not spoken to him since a very long time.

So like a ‘good friend’ I called him at the next available opportunity.
After the regular exchange of accusings for not being in touch, we came to the second phase of the conversation, i.e. updating each other on the latest happenings in our respective lives.
Soon another playful disagreement started and I told him to not speak too much as I know him for over 7 years!
The response from the other end of the telephone line was unexpected, there was complete silence.
I thought that the line had got disconnected but that was not the case so I asked ”Vikas are you there?”.
He said, “I hope you are not joking, are you sure?”
Me, “I didn’t get you. Sure about what?”
He said, “That it is already over 7 years since we first met?”
Now it was my change to be silent and after sometime i.e. after mentally reconfirming the calculations I said, “Yes.”
He then jokingly added, “Do you remember that it used to a task to be able to sit through 1 1/2 hours for a single lecture and today we are so casually saying that 7 years have gone by.”

This comparison hit me hard.
WoW! Really!
Spending those 90 minutes used to be as if we were being tortured and today 7 years of our life has just slipped past.

But, has it slipped past or it has been lived?
A very subjective question.
The answer would most definitely be different for different people but it would be different even for one person when thought taking into consideration various aspects of life.
Some places we could have done very well and maybe at some other places we would have slipped completely.
Maybe career wise one may have achieved a land mark, but has the personal relations kept pace?

There used to be a time (at least in my case) when my friends were the most important thing in my life. Then it was making my career and now my Parents & family.
Are these just phases? Or just one relationship/element of life was placed higher on the pedestal.
I don’t know if I was successful or achieved everything possible in the respective phases of my life.
But I am just sure of one thing.
I had made a personal resolution very young in my life, that I would never regret anything that happened in my past for it was the best choice I made then with the knowledge I had at that time. Regret comes when we start evaluating our past decisions with our present knowledge which is unfair.
There are many things in my life which I wanted to do but didn’t.
But still I guess I am doing fine because I am not done yet.
So there was a time when 1 1/2 hour used to be too much to bear and there is a time when days no not days sometimes weeks and month pass by and we feel that Time Flies.

Time Zones