Confessions Of A Diehard Procrastinator

Procrastination is an art to be cultivated and perfected over a lifetime… Yours truly has graduated in it and is in the process of taking a Masters, at this point in time. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, my grandfather used to always advise me.
And I … I can never do today what can be postponed for tomorrow…or the day after …or the one after that! Appa (my father in law) and Amma (MIL) normally packed their suitcases on the 2nd of the month, if they were supposed to travel on the 15th. I, normally, throw all my things in on 14th night…. or on 15th morning mostly, if the flight is in the evening. Not for me the calm and organized existence. I always love the excitement of uncertainty in my life( that’s what we professional procrastinators always say)!
Every year I tell myself that it is time to change and become more systematic and organized. Easier said than done. All these years I have had the excuse that the demands of my work were the impediments to a more organized existence. Now that I am a full time homemaker, I thought things would change… Nah!
Well… I do plan things. I am great at planning things…. In fact, I make very elaborate plans…. Like I did for last year’s Diwali. Normally, I keep all my plans to myself so that only I know how many of them got shelved or abandoned. Last year I was rash enough to share my plans with Puja, my neighbour, when she asked me what I was planning to do for the festival. Pompously I told her, ‘Everything! I have plenty of time this year, since I am not working. What about you?’ She has a kid in kindergarten and a year old toddler. She said she wasn’t sure… with the two kids it would be difficult… Maybe something simple, she said. This had been in the first week of October.
The second week of October had seen a sea change in my life. I had opened my own blogspace …and I was busy writing and publishing my random thoughts. I knew I had a lot of shopping to do. As usual I indulged in procrastinating! Tomorrow…, I kept telling myself.

Third week of October: Aaaah! I should have got round to buying things – ingredients for preparing the sweets and savouries… And gifts for friends and relatives… ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ each day I had told myself, knowing full well that tomorrow never comes!

14th of October: Puja came to borrow my chakli mould… She had already made two sweets. She asked me how far I had reached. I smiled mysteriously and shaking my head, said ‘ That’s going to be a surprise!’
‘I’ll return this in a day or two,’ she said. ‘Take your time.’ I said. What I meant was give it after Diwali…that way I have a good excuse for not using it!

17th October : Something triggered the panic button inside me. Was it Puja returning my chakli mould after finishing with it? Was it my husband who asked me if I had done the shopping, as soon as he returned from work? Was it my niggling conscience….or was it my ego that was all set to fall flat on its face in front of my systematic neighbour with two kids who was steadily doing everything well in time for the festival?

I realized I could not postpone action anymore. A kind friend agreed to accompany me to wherever I had to go… I returned home lugging packets and packets of stuff… It was time for the actual action… as usual in the eleventh hour!

18th October: if I didn’t start that day…. I’d probably have celebrated Diwali after Diwali! So I refrained from glancing at my PC or at the TV. I decided to use some extra elbow grease that day.
All these happened at diwali2006… This year, it was worse… The latest episode, dear friends, is a totally different story altogether! Soon to be blogged!


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