“Sir, I will be there in just 5 minutes”.
All of us might have heard this many number of times from friends, clients, relatives or anybody else in our day to day routine, but do they really come in 5 minutes? Does these 5 minutes are for today, tomorrow or the day after?
My experience with electricians, plumbers, carpenters, tailors, iron-wallah etc is that they will never turn up at the promised time. If your tailor asks you to come after 2 days, rest assured, your cloths would not be ready even on 3rd day. When you go to him the next day, he will ask you with a smile on his face to ‘just wait for 5 minutes’. The other day a computer technician was uploading anti virus software on my computer when he got a call from some one. Knowing well that it takes anything from 1 to 2 hours to install the software, he told the caller that he would be there in 5 minutes. It took full 3 hours for him to complete the job at my place! Think of the poor caller who may be waiting for him leaving all his other engagements of the day.
I am still not able to figure out what’s so special about this 5 minutes syndrome. Why not people say 3 minutes, 7 minutes or 2 hours, why only 5 minutes? I often ask my electrician, tailor or iron man to tell me an extended date and time providing all the cushion for urgent work on hand and the delays in commuting but even than they are not able to stick to their promised time. They plead their helplessness citing ‘Sab Chalta Hai’ attitude without any regret. In a place like Bangalore traffic jams, diversion of road, break down of vehicle due to pot holes are the best excuses for delay.
Even if somebody is MBA, MBBS or MCA, when it comes to mathematics, they fall short of proper calculations. We are all poor at calculation to visulise how much time does it require to complete a given task or to reach a designated place taking in to the account frequency of transport and traffic conditions of the city. If we are able to do these mathematical calculations in our mind beforehand, I bet you would never tell others that ‘You will be there in 5 minutes’!
It is high time we make an attempt of attitudinal shift from ‘Indian standard time’ to something concrete, focused, disciplined, punctual time befitting to the concept of time management.
IST stands for Indian Stretched Time... event that stretch is also standard! Life still moves on :)
ReplyDeleteWell said sir ..
ReplyDeleteI'll come back and write a comment... just 5 minutes
ReplyDeleteSir, its hard to attempt successfully that attitudinal shift that you are asking to here. Waiting for somebody, in itself, is something that has a unique feeling. Just think, if everybody starts to tell the exact time, nothing change would happen but spice from the life would be gone. Atleast, you won't get a chance to write such a blog here again............hahahaa!!!
ReplyDeleteEven my experiences are similar.
ReplyDeleteCompletely understand your thoughts! It disgusts me when people state a time and are not available then! Takes a great deal of maturity to respect another's time!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many people in India that one don't feel the need to please a customer...if not you, another person will always be there.
ReplyDeleteI am saddened by it chiefly because every time we utter the 5 min line in front of our children, we teach them the same standards.
I think most of the people are suffering from 5 minute syndrome and the symptoms are:short memory,patient tends to fool around the people,counting problem...........if diagnosed early could be treated with the efforts of patient.
ReplyDeleteWell,Mohan sir IST full form is matched with your post sir.
Nice Article very useful for me.Thank you
ReplyDeleteIn Delhi a famous esntence is --AAP 5 MNT THEHRO MAIN EK GHANTE MEIN AYAH.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought this was a typical Delhi syndrome. Sadly we have no choice but to put with their sorry state of time management.
ReplyDelete"Just 5 minutes" only means "I want to do it though not now and I dont know when".
ReplyDeleteBig cheers for Mohan sir and Srinidhi hande for their comments :)
This happens also in corporate life handling bosses, employees and vendors/contractors,attending meetings, conference calls too......the same story across the system - you name a scenario and its there in the working world too..............
ReplyDeleteI liked this article....very practical and realistic to how we talk and commit to others on a daily basis.....
We need to change the way we commit and not just casually say 5 mintues becuase everyone else does it.....Amazing thinking !!!!-Venkatesh
Shobha Warrier commented on Face Book-
ReplyDeleteNever. Not only that, we as a nation are not punctual at all. I have not met many people who value time.
In my hometown, "two minutes saar" is very popular. They know it's gonna be more than just two minutes; we know that it's gonna be more than two minutes; and they know that we know that too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet we all nod happily at each other. :D
in mumbai its 2 minutes! :)
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose 4 minutes is too short and 6 minutes is too long for an excuse :-)
ReplyDeleteGr8 post Sir..!! really enjoyed it because I am also suffering from the same syndrome..!! :P :D
ReplyDeletehaha..good one...
ReplyDeletespot on :)
ReplyDeletesymbiotic relationship among the people, everyone responds like that.........:)
ReplyDeleteWell, its a symbiotic relationship with everyone responding like that.......
ReplyDeleteWhy is this so? We do not want to disappoint the person at the other end? We want to get him off our back? I guess the answer lies in between the two!
ReplyDeleteThat's Indian style time management
ReplyDeleteSomething typical of Indians. I have never seen it in other places (I personally know UK, Germany, Switzerland and Bosnia). But if I say that Indians don't keep up punctuality in the UK, the NRIs there will abuse me because I am not keeping up the Indian honor there! Ironically I think if I say it, that is much better than a British person saying it.
ReplyDeleteJust typical of Indians. I have not seen it in other places (I personally know UK, Germany, Switzerland and Bosnia). If I say that Indians are not punctual in the UK, the NRIs there will abuse me because I am not keeping up the Indian honor in a foreign country. But I think that it if I say it, that is much better than a British person saying it.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I have reached everywhere before time, as I don't like to be late or rush at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteI wish people realized that they loose their goodwill by not sticking to their promised time.
Life is too short and I would like to spend that time with my family instead of waiting.....