HICKORY Dickory Dock

He looked, she looked, they all looked: what did they all look at? They looked at time. At the strapped contraption with ticking sounds and moving arms on their wrist.

Innocently strapped to wrist, it might seem; but it had handcuffed and engulfed the whole humanity into its delicate unrecognisable tyranny.

I have no time! I need to be in time! I am getting late! Better finish it in time! Wake up!

It had started ruling our lives. From a free man we had become its slaves. Tense slaves. Frustrated slaves. Rushing and running slaves. Angry slaves. Stressed slaves. It had modified our behaviour, such was its power. There was no escaping it.

It improved efficiency, organisational skills, productivity and what not, but did it make man happy?

Like man’s many creations, he cannot foresee its consequences. His own wisely creations can be his self destruction.

Time is the main word in our day to day vocabulary. Peter Henlein would never have imagined when he put the cog wheels together that he would wind up humans to their turning too.

Then came the statement “time is money” and Voila! It was taken more seriously than the dharma or duties. Man had turned into a money making machine.

Man and time managed us, now we are learning and trying to do “time management”.

In a remote village far away, untouched by Time and space:

A man rose from his slumber to the rising energy of sun’s rays, to the call of the rooster and to the scent of the earth. His biorhythm in beautiful alignment with nature. He walked calmly, he ate calmly, he rejoiced in the most mundane of activities. He smiled and laughed.

The day energised him and the night cooled him under the umbrella of moonlight. The stars twinkled and winked at him as he slept.

Man and nature were one. Is man willing to stand in tune with natural biorhythms or have we come too far with no turning back.

Altrincham Interfaith Group

Dr Manjula Arora