Thursday, October 06, 2005

Busy?

It is amazing how one can be so busy. No really. I have the great privilege of knowing so many busy people. They are always in a hurry, always rushing towards something, always working, always achieving, always running, always seeking, always faced with deadlines and rush hour traffic.... and I wonder whether I am doing something wrong. Whether I am the one who is doing something funny and missing the bigger picture, and I really ought to be busy when I am not. One tends to feel like one is talking to the passengers in a speeding train rushing through the station.
"Hey...whoosh... How....clackety-clack....are.....zooom.....you?.....eeeyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnn!!!

How long does it take to reply to an email?
How long does it take to stop by someone's desk and ask about their root canal surgery?
How long does it take to simply call someone and ask whether the honeymoon was great? (and then embarrass them with a hundred questions ;-)
How long does it take to call home and ask your family whether they had lunch/dinner?
How long does it take to make all that money again?
How long does it take to help your wife/mom clean after meals?
How long does it take to smile when you pass by?

I really don't know. It amazes me to watch people rushing through life and then complain that the end is too near. It is sad to watch people buy gifts and stuff but hardly have time to watch their loved ones wear/use those gifts. It makes me draw a deep breath when people talk such great things like empathy and compassion and all that bull-crap, but hardly seem to live it.
Things are invented to take the stress off people remembering things. Automated e-greetings, birthday reminders, alerts, Outlook scheduler... and we don't have time. I really think I am stupid. If everyone around me is so busy, then I am definitely stupid not to be busy, even when I am truly busy. Well, my busy-ness is surely my business... :-)
And you know what really gets me? When people around me try to convince me about how they are really packed and how that deadline is so vital and how pushing an elephant through the needle's eye is easier than squeezing an extra minute.
I wish someone would simply bend over and turn off the machine... a large scale power failure, a kid playing Lego in the middle of the road, a puppy sitting right in your line of view of the TV, credit cards not working, all business deals charged doubly to the parties who get it (now lets see who wants to clinch that one!), a straight 50 no-petrol days.... Hmmm. :-|

I am reminded of this song called Vienna...


Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
You are still so afraid?

Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you

Slow down you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forfeit what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
But you know you can't always see when you're right

You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook
And disappear for a while
It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize...
Vienna waits for you.

13 comments:

  1. I just read 1st part of your post. I did not read the poem coz I didn’t have time (Just kidding...I got bored to read a song)....My dad always says that there is never lack of time...it is just our priorities.....Maybe the people you mentioned in this post have "being busy" as their priority. So you can not really blame them......I am not a very busy person, but when I am laying on my bed watching "Harry met Sally" eating Bhel and someone calls me, I just don’t answer the phone coz I am really enjoying what I am doing...i.e I am busy with what I really enjoy...next day if that person asks me why I did not answer his phone, I say that I was busy...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also ask Okra or Cabbage ( or whatever name she chooses to go by) this question....She is always busy...she can give you a better answer than me....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi GI,
    I didn't mention anyone particular in this post. There are many people I know who are very busy with what they want to be busy with. Like your reply the next day, they have a reason everyday... Priority is definitely the issue. I cannot disagree there. Its usually a matter of whether we care enough for something/~one.
    The post has to do with what recently happened at work. A colleague from Aus. had come down and he came straight to meet me after his official meeting. I was touched and we chatted for a while. I asked him why did he come here first (I knew he didn't love me nor am I that important) and he said, "Because you kept in touch (we had met about 2 years ago)." That was touching. Then I told him that I had to go as I had a meeting and a presentation lined up, whose finishing touches were pending. He told me "You should have told me earlier." Honestly, it was no big deal. With the first 6 slides in place I could have added the touches while making my presentation (since it was over the net and the audience were not sitting in front of me), to which he added, "Very few people would do that." What made me wonder was why do very few people do that? He had nothing to offer me professionally nor was he responsible for any of my promotions/evaluations. Another thing that happened on the same day was a reply to a mail I had sent to a friend who had left the organisation. he was surprised to get a mail. He said, only a couple of people stayed in touch with him and I wasn't even on his team.
    Its not about what I do as much as it is about why do such things surprise people. I thought these things were normal, a given...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know what u mean! 'Being Busy' is a habit with some.

    I almost got trapped in this habit myself, but am rid of it now!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey i really needed to read this :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey X,
    :-) Good to hear that!

    Hey P,
    Well you got it!! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know it was not about any one particular person, the 1st person who came to my mind when I heard the word busy was "u know who"....but then I realized she chose to be busy and she is happy being busy......so I remembered my dad's priority saying.....then it all made sense...so I left a comment .....but seriously u cant blame anyone for being busy....They might be busy for u and might have a entire time in the world for something else.....right??

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear GI,
    I ain't blaming anyone!! Everyone makes choices and I am not wise enough to know a right choice from a wrong one! ;-) It simply amazes me to watch such things happening as much as it amazes me to watch a man ski down a treacherous slope, on one leg; well, both amaze me for their pointlessness!! :-D Everyone is free to make their choice as I have made mine!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Most of my conversations with you mysteriously end with Choices...wonder why???

    ReplyDelete
  10. it takes a very secure individual to be able to say "I have all the time in the world to do things that a majority of the "busy" world would term as unproductive". Unfortunately being busy has become a stereotype today and if one doesn't fit in the stereotype there's two things to do, pretend or believe in yourself and be the freak!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear GI,
    I definitely did not choose that to happen! ;-)

    Dear M,
    More than security I think its about basic human concern and caring... There is so much fun in being a freak! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous2:16 PM

    Hi!
    Great thought, but I guess in a world that is defined by zillions of choices, is it not a fallout of people being clueless about their priorities? And in the world thats forever connected..sometimes people need to be busy while eating bhel n watching When Sally...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous7:12 PM

    Life's little ironies indeed! - WHO MAY I ASK IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS POST "BUSY?"...

    And shouldn't certain people be banned from writing about certain topics in this world?

    :)

    ReplyDelete