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How elastic can a day be?

Featured / adiekaushik / Leave a comment

It all starts early morning, there is a lot to be done, planned, unplanned, desirable and undesirable. You think you have a lot of time on hand. Then you start moving…the first instance you open your eyes and start your day. How elastic is your day at that moment? Hours, minutes, seconds make it all seem that you have more time than what you plan for. So you console yourself with ‘let’s see how it goes’…you think of the day ahead at work, you think of the moments at home, the time for food, travel and many more activities that keep juggling through your mind, often making or not making your list for the day. Well, the day seems to stretch itself as you add more and more plans in your day.

Few hours into the day, you seem to be running behind schedule, the schedule that you have run many times over. Time management comes to mind, I need to plan better, I need to plan less, I need to stick to my commitments. The day seems to lose a bit of elasticity. It seems like it’s contracting already. You reach work and your day seems to stretch again. Good ol’ 08hrs or more ahead and there seems to be enough time to accomplish all those tasks at work. Emails, Meetings, Calls, Chat’s, tasks, spreadsheets, lunch. There is a lot of time on hand. Plan kicks off.

Mid-day, ….a lots been done or maybe undone. Planned activities ticked off. Some unplanned stuff completed too…adding to more cheer to your day than the planned one’s. Still half a day ahead. On plan..or maybe off it…a filling lunch…and the human body disconnects with the brain. The digestive machine slows things down. The day seems to be shrinking again…closing in faster to your 08hour mark to head home. Calls from home, plans for evenings or maybe no plans…the day seems to be winding down. Reflection begins as you travel home. How much was done today, am I happy about the length of my day. Did I use every bit of the day, paradoxically, if you have used up every possible moment of the past 08hours to its maximum as per your plan…the day seems to have been consumed well.

Evening,…the day starts to shrink…or does it. Well, it depends on the plan ahead. A party expands it, a visit from a desirable friend expands it. An undesirable task contracts it. The mind is at rest or is unsettled by how you have spent your last 08 hours. Your daily measure of success. You feed your body, your soul your mind with desirable activities, often accepting them as rewards for a day well spent.

Its nearly the end of the day…you think of what lies ahead for the next day. So you spent the 24hours ..and you expanded and contracted it many times during the day. All through what you thought was time spent on desirable or undesirable activity.

So, can you really stretch you day? How can you chose your desirable activities? Can the desirable acitivies stretch the day to accomodate the undesirable one’s. How do you decide which is desirable or undesirable until you actually are in the process of doing it. Time Management itself is undesirable to me. So, how can I stratch my day?

How elastic can I make my day or can I? How elastic can a day be?

Emptying my Soul on paper

/ adiekaushik / Leave a comment

I started sketching. After a gap of over 3 years, it felt nice to let my imagination flow. The first sketch did not look pretty at all…it seemed like toxins oozing through my fingers. It had a soothing effect to my mind though. The next sketch had a calmness about it and felt like a calming effect over rough waters.

So, I decided that I would do 1 sketch a day. My commitment to express my daily emotions at the end of the day through the sketch. A feeling of elation helps me energize. Creativity has such a positive effect on the mind. You can literally empty all the baggage of your soul onto the paper. Each sketch makes me feel life is worth living. Every day is a blessing.

However, there is still too much churn in my heart and mind.does not make me feel that I have relieved my soul. I am unable to feel free. There is nothing wrong in my surroundings and yet I feel a sense of concern for the future. I work towards creating a better future..how much can the human do….or maybe its just the anxiety for the times to come that consumes me….contd.

What comes off the moving escalator?

/ adiekaushik / Leave a comment

Have you ever stood at the end of a rising or descending escalator? It’s amazing to see people’s expressions as they reach the other end. Of course, where the escalator is situated also decides the mood of the people. If it’s reaching the duty free, you have an expression of glint, dismay and wonder in the eyes of the person. Some counting the money in their pocket. Some hit with the thought of how far their expenses are stretched and when can they make the next lavish buy from the wonder that’s displayed in these shops. Dismay follows those who have neither money nor credit to buy anything. They must just wonder if there could be an escalator that would not land them into these temptations. Well, their number though large doesn’t decide the equation of the airport economics. It’s a temptation that the new airports of the world are creating around us.

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Escalators rising into the departure area bear a look of parting, longing and the anxiety of travel. There are those that are running late, often upset with the length and the speed of the escalator. ‘Only, if I could clear this climb, and walk half a mile more, maze through the crowd…I would make the flight….just why is this thing not moving faster’. The travellators are more prone to such hastiness and stress.

Needless to say that the one’s descending into the arrivals area have the pushiest and the anxious lot. Trying to push through to the line ahead so they can clear through this misery of travel and reach the much needed rest in their warm homes or the loved ones.

It always amazes me to see when people lean forward and nudge you at the escalators as if to believe that if all the people on the escalators were to lean forward by a certain degree it might move it faster….hmm no such luck there is it.

But, then there are those who like to climb or descend these escalators like stairs. I sometimes wonder why they bother getting on it in the first place. Escalators are the domain of the lazy and tired lot who have absolutely no further energy to move, but would prefer to just stand and let the mechanics of these wonderful moving stairs do the job. I mean if you really want to be that athletic, then how about climbing down those stone stairs. Of course, new airports don’t provide such luxury to the climbers. They cater to the lazy and spoiled lots of the world.

Maybe, not everyone may have experienced the wonders of an escalator of the third world. It’s amazing to see people jump on the first step and then almost lose their head trying to balance themselves. But as they become habit for most, the number of those that confidently step in and out increases …and some even being kind enough to help those that are learning.

The sight of the stretched out man on the escalator whose one leg has extended beyond his natural body frame maybe cruel but is nevertheless hilarious.

I guess the list goes on…and on…but I must rush now as I join the many to head to another endless ride on these metallic carriers of the multitude and join the ranks into a long winding journey through the airport …and my flight.

Many more to climb ….and more on what new age escalators could be like, on my return.