By Wg. Cdr. V. B. Purang, [ Monday, August 28, 2006  ]

Do Indians need the tag of latecomers?  Do only Indians reach late everywhere?

Indians are notorious for being late, as evident from a common refrain, "I got there as per Indian standard time", when one is late. To put this to perspective lets consider a few instances.

I had to attend a meeting in one of the posh venues. Most of the speakers were of decent repute, a few of them from international community, while CEO of a multinational company also graced the occasion.

The meeting started late, by only 15 minutes. Now, the point is whether one should rejoice at the short delay or be disappointed at why it could not start on time.

Two more incidents of contrasting nature come to my mind in this context.

Having been invited for a marriage function, I, as dictated by the habit, reached the venue with my family, as per the scheduled time printed on the invitation, taking trouble to pick up a suitable present on the way.

However, I was in for a rude shock. The place was in total chaos with the process of erection of Shamiana just getting under way. It was difficult to locate the host. Finally, when I was able to find him, he looked astonished and conveyed to me with embarrassment that no guest was expected that ‘early’. Since the function would have started at least 2 to 3 hours later, as it appeared, we excused ourselves after handing over the gift and our best wishes.

The other incident involved an acquaintance of mine, who was too rigid in sticking to his principles and took pride in showing his punctuality on all occasions. He had invited some friends for a simple celebration. As it happened, none of them could reach his place at the specified time. He and his wife waited for a few minutes, locked the house and left.

As for the guests, well, they were greeted by a simple note.

A lot has been written about virtues of punctuality. The need is only to ponder over whether one gains anything by being late. It can of course, be said with certainty that one "can" keep an appointment if there is a willingness to do so. The tag of ‘Indian being a latecomer’ would automatically go, though the aforesaid is not applicable to all Indians in general sense.

 Want to write for us ?

 Send  us  your  views, articles,  comments, suggestions  at

 publish@unleashthought.com

Web Unleashthought.com