Time starts at Eleventh Hour in Pakistan
By Abdul Rauf
Winning a test match is not less than a miracle for Pakistan team especially when they represent a nation that does not have test match temperament- unable to plan and execute the plans in order to do the right thing on the right time. This very characteristic of wasting the available time till it starts haunting us, is evident in almost everything we do. These days, long queues of impatient and fatigued souls at bank counters, post offices and Excise and Taxation Offices to pay the car token/tax, are manifestation of lacunas in our time management approach.
Time is considered the cheapest commodity as we display an extravagant waste of it and end up by paying high price for it in the form of relentless task of standing in queues, getting irrational, rude and impolite with others, acting against moral values and manners.
An old man, with wrinkled face covered in while beard, completely drenched in sweat went directly to the counter at State Bank Islamabad and people standing in the queue showed no respect for his old age, rather they shouted at him in an insulting way.
Suraya Shah Gillani, a working lady who came to pay some dues in the same bank, told INFN that she was standing at the counter reserved for females, yet men standing in a queue nearby raised objections on bank staff for serving a female while men are standing there. She said, “There is a separate counter for females and staff at this counter has nothing to do with the men’s counter. I don’t know what’s wrong with these men.”
There is something seriously wrong with all of us. We, as a nation, are hapless in terms of time management. No matter what we do, we do it at eleventh hour. We go through the tension of standing in queues, panic of driving fast, urgency in rushing towards institutions but we feel pleasure in relaxing when its time to act. Every month we stand in the same queues, on the same ‘last date’, while paying utility bills yet we are no more conscious of the suffering caused by our own actions. The lack of planning and over delayed actions have let us down in almost every field and department starting from top notch administrators to the commoners. If this chronic syndrome of delaying things has not become a part of our genetic codes, we must change ourselves now, and come up with a pro-active nature.
A nation with mere flair is ideal for T20 matches but for consistent victory in test matches and to achieve significant targets in all other fields as well this flair needs to be tamed according to the framework of apt long term planning, consistency and temperament. Otherwise, embarrassing defeats, failed plans and longs queues are there to make a mockery of us- a nation with immense potential and talent.