2 Extra Hours !!

Well … the guys at HUL claim that the new Surf Excel Matic is smart enough to get rid of stains while your clothes are inside your washing machine, so you don't have to spend your precious time doing it seperately.
So … the million-dollar (or lets say the lakh-rupee) question is "If you had two extra hours in a day, how would you spend it?"

2 extra hours would give u a 26 hour day and a 13 hour clock face ! Wouldn’t that be weird ?? or more than that …wouldn’t that be ‘unlucky’ ?? Having to stare at a 13 hour clock face every day … ???




2 hours … 120 minutes … 7200 seconds … looks significant enough!!

Right ?? So how would I spend it?

Now that's a very interesting question which sets me thinking and even makes me nostalgic … (something that hasn't happened for a couple of days … eh … I am referring to 'nostalgic' not 'thinking')

Reminds me of my MBA days when We (Nikhil and I) conceptualized the first fully online business games event of India and found that even the 24 hours we had were not enough. We spent sleepless nights (and dozing lecture times) for almost 4 months before we launched the event (MastishK) which ultimately turned out to be hugely successful (thanks to the efforts of a 30 member strong team of MBA students). We also created the world's first B-School / MBA comic character Arbit Choudhury and release about 20 comic strips around the event. I remember those times and wonder, if I had 2 additional hours every day in those days, we could have accomplished so much more (or at least once in a while got some good night's sleep).

Nostalgia also reminds me of my Engineering days … specifically the exam days when we had to study a semester worth of studies in a matter of 2 weeks and any additional hour would have been god-sent … what to talk of 2 additional hours a day J I am sure I would have managed at least 2% more J

Well … enough of nostalgia ... lets look at the present !!!

Arbit Choudhury - If I had 2 hours more every day, I would be able to devote more time to creating the Arbit Choudhury comics and would have increased the frequency of new comic release from once a fortnight to once a week. Just the 2 hours from 'one day' every week would mean more comics and more smiles spread across the globe J

Reading - I have been a voracious reader since early childhood and my reading levels / score has gone up and down over the years as other things took priority and I got busy with studies and work. I read extensively during my school days devouring 2-3 books every week; while in college / engineering / MBA; other books took priority and my fiction reading score went down. It picked up again but I started on self development books and the likes. Then came the corporate life and reading again took a dip.

A few years ago, I realized that this was practically the only hobby I had and my only escape from 'reality' … so I decided to get back to reading and have been reading pretty regularly and voraciously ever since maintaining my reading record on monthly basis on my blog too. BUT, work hampers my reading (currently engaged with 3 different clients and other responsibilities which make me travel, it is difficult to read).

2 extra hours would a BIG BOON for my reading. There is soooo much to read and so little time. 2 hours would be enough to complete a small 100-120 page novel; a week would be enough to complete a 500-700 page novel (NO, I won't use all of extra 2-hours in reading alone, there are other things too). These 2 additional hours every day would enable me to read at least 4 more novels / books every month beside the short stories and novels which I am already reading. I would love to see my reading graph rise to a higher level J

Family - Besides my reading, the extra time would also mean I can spend some more time with my parents and brother. It seems like ages I have spent some 'so called quality time' with my bro chatting about general things in life. Its been a long time since I spent time with mom-n-dad talking about family affairs and about planning a getaway. The additional 2 hours would at least give me a few minutes every day to make that happen (although the fact of the matter is that one doesn't need extra minutes and hours to do this, all it takes is the inner will to go ahead and do it. No matter, how busy one is; one can still find 5 minutes to spend with family and indulge in small talk).

Friends - While I write this, I also realize that I haven't been 'really in touch' with my numerous friends from over the years and the common excuse is actually that I don't get time. If I did have 2 extra hours, I would begin by spending 5 minutes every day writing / calling up a friend whom I haven't contacted for some time. Touching base with friends without the excuse of an occasion like a birthday, diwali, new year can be pretty awkward but pleasant thing. Awkward because we no longer call on friends and acquaintances 'just like that' unless we have some work with them. Pleasant because … (can this really be explained?) … touching base with friends is always pleasant. Hearing their voice and feeling their smiles in their voice. But again, we don't really need the extra 2 hours daily to do this. All it takes is a will to do it. But definately, if I had 2 more hours a day, it would give me some extra time in hand to spend some time with my best friend.

(So ... to spend more time with Friends and Family .. one does not really need extra 2 hours per day … it can be done even without them but if we indeed had the 2 hours … it would help :)

Writing/Blogging - Extra 2 hours would definitely allow and enable me to write more on my blog. So many thoughts and ideas and observations remain in my notes and never make it to my blog bcos of paucity of time. Had I the extra time, I wouldn't be surprised to find a minimum of one meaningful blog post every day rather than the not-so-great score of single digit every month that I now have (but of course, there are some months with double digit scores too).

The 2 additional hours would help me write at least 2 more blog posts a week and hopefully … just hopefully … in the long run … inspire me and enable me to write the book/novel that I soooo wish to write someday ! (that's part of the 'things I wish to do before I die' list)

Biz Talk - And yes, before I forget. I am an entrepreneur at heart and with time and increase in office work pressure, I have not been able to give my 'that side of brain' any time to think and explore and discuss with another entrep friend of mine. With 2 more hours every day, I could probably have a once-in-a-week meeting with him over coffee discussing business ideas (provided he also had the luxury of the 2-extra-hours-a-day)
Last but definitely NOT the least (in fact, very important); If I had 2 extra hours every day, my wife would be extremely happy whose most common complaint is that I don't give her 'enough' time (mind you … 'enough' is a highly vague ambiguous undefined term whose definition changes with time). She would indeed be happy with the extra time I would have and lay her claim on it (as it is she has anyway laid her claim on the iPad/BB which I might win in this contest :)

Just while I was about to post this ... a thought struck me ... If I do manage to get the eextra 2 hours a day AND If I do win the tablet ... wont the tablet occupy the extra time and I wont be able to do any of the above ..... hmmm .... but then I read the previous paragraph again and realised that my wife wont alllow that to happen. The tablet would not be able to interfere with my extra time .. :)



Addendum: This post also hit another spot of nostalgia. In my school days, I had read several sci-fi novels which had some element of time-warp / space travel where time stretched and compressed. Wish I could lay my hands on some of them now. I would love to read them again. Or even something similar. I really miss my sci-fi reading of school days. (This actually adds one more thing that I could do with the extra hours. Once a week, I could use those extra 2 hours to ‘google’ for some interesting off-beat sci-fi novels and then read them :)



Note: This blog post was inspired by Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart Contest where bloggers are to pen down (or should I say 'key in') their thoughts on ... "If you had two extra hours in a day, how would you spend it?"

Comments

  1. nice take on the topic . . all the best for the contest :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @maliny - Thanks. I started writing this post for the contest .. but after the first few lines .. the content simply flowed and i wrote whatever came to my mind. Wasnt really thinking about the contest while actually writing the whole thing.

    After completing, somewhere I wasnt sure if this was 'contest material' but then decided 'what the heck ... what i wrote is what came straight from the heart and thats how i like it' !! :)

    thanks for passing by !!

    ReplyDelete

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