Oh No!!! Too Little Time!

satchitananda · Oct 7, 2023

"Why are you crying?" the mother asked the little girl.
"Amma, I am getting bored", the little one replied.

This was not a one time event. Many an evening saw this act playing out. The little girl was little S. She grew up, spent her life ..... well, doing all she had to do, all she wanted to do, trying to reach goals (realistic as well as impossible) she had set herself, and ..... in between all this ..... getting bored.

The pattern continued, until one fine day, her friend gave her a pep talk and introduced her to Facebook. A little while later another introduced her to IndusLadies. That was it. "Satchi" was born and then there was no stopping her.

Today she has a job which would be the envy of anybody ..... she can take up as much as she wants, take off if she wants and put up her feet if she pleases and pretty much do as she wishes. But now she is in a quandry.

There is so much she loves to do on the net, be it watching news, watching documentaries, browsing for stuff for her classes, watching serials, binge watching other serials, doing a comparative study of a serial in various languages ..... THERE IS NO TIME. 24 hours are just NOT ENOUGH. There is no time to sleep. If she does, she will miss out on so much information, so much going on out there in the world ..... but then, she has to prepare for class, she MUST sleep if she has to stay awake in class next morning. OK. Why does she not retire and just live on the net in the virutal world? OH NOOOOO.... that is unthinkable. She does not want to lose contact with the real world either!!! Her job is not only her ticket to financial independence, travel whenever she chooses to, it gives her real satisfaction. She LOOOOVES her job.

If she has to prepare for her classes, she has to miss out on all that excitement in the world outside (experienced through virtual means) and if she loses herself in the virtual world, she has to risk not being able to work. If she visits IndusLadies to write as she is doing right now, she might miss out on something else. If she goes there, she misses out on coming here regularly! What all can a human being do?

No, 24 hours are just not enough. The earth's axis is tilting, we are told. Is it really happening? If so, will the there consequentially be more hours ..... perhaps 48 hour days in the near future? Or must she think of contacting Elon Musk and consider moving to the moon where she can benefit from 24 X 14 hour (do that calculation yourself or reach out for the calculator) days? Or are happy days of cloning close by, so one Satchi can write, another browse, another work ..... I am not sure the world will be so happy though. One is quite enough, they would insist, I am sure!

Balajee · Oct 7, 2023

Morqal of the story is you can't have it all. It is easy to say some adsjustments have to be made but striking a balance is a hard act.

satchitananda · Oct 7, 2023

Indeed, Balajee!

Viswamitra · Oct 7, 2023

Dear Satchi,

The secret is out now about where Satchi is getting the energy from! Motivation is coming from your thought to achieve goals. You are the only one I know who teaches German to the students. I have an impression that German is as hard as learning Sanskrit. What a delight it is to see too consecutive posts from you. We have to thank your friend who brought you into Indus Ladies.

I also see your patience in writing two snippets simultaneously especially when the site is slow in loading. I have given up hopes writing something substantive unless it is a quick response to someone.

Don't move to the moon to have constant day light as an equivalent period you would be in dark and go to sleep like Chandrayan 3. Isn't it an excitment for the readers only when one and only Satchi writes her snippets? If there are more than one cloned, the excitement will disappear.

Are you still pursuing your passion for indoor plants and farming in a game? Your interactions with autorickshaw drivers itself are enough of real world exposure. Recently, I read about Trevor Noah canceling a show due to traffic and how are you managing unbeatable traffic jams in Bangalore? I wonder what would be the equivalent in Kannada of "Savu Grakki. Veetla sollittu vanduttaya?" (You are a person who decided to die. Have you told your intention to your family?) a slang curse that drivers do in Chennai.

satchitananda · Oct 7, 2023

LOL Viswa, so lovely to see your prompt response. Loved that last sentence. It is ever so apt for Bangalore and the traffic here. But mercifully, I work online and don't have to travel much.

As for writing, as soon as something enters my mind, I decide to put things on (virtual) paper. i can't trust my memory to let me remember what I wanted to write about for too long. So given my mind's habit of jumping from one thought to another, it is not surprising that more than one snippet arrive in quick succession and then sometimes I turn into that mentally passive couch potato!

Thanks once again for that lovely and encouraging response!

HariLakhera · Oct 8, 2023

It is always possible to limit this. There is screen time scheduling on most smartphones.
Long back I posted a snippet -Mrs. Serialkar.

Here it is.

Ms. SERIALKAR

Mrs. Serialkar is distraught. She has not been in a position to watch her favorite Serials on cable for the last three days.

It all started with her TV set behaving erratically. First, the pictures started shaking, widening, and elongating, and then the sound started distorting. The net result was chaos not in the serials, but in the household. Mrs. Serialkar had begged her husband to buy a new TV set with the latest technology but he had been dilly-dallying it for one reason or the other. And then the inevitable happened.

First, her husband thought it had something to do with the cable operator. A complaint was duly lodged and the cable guy blamed the TV set. The TV repairer was called who said he would need at least two days to repair as it was difficult to get parts for such an old model.

Three days is an epic time in the storyline of Indian soap operas. The story can take any turn. It can go forward, go backward, sideways, and rather anyways. Mrs. Serialkar was worried about her not being a part of the change. Her envy was beyond compare. ‘Owners' Pride, neighbor's envy' was lying at the repair shop waiting for some savior.

On the contrary, her neighbors were way ahead of her in moving with the change of turn in the Serials. The mother-in-law might have caused some upheaval in the family. Who knows the SIL might have met with some accident and been hospitalized. The wayward son might have hanged himself. The modern-day daughter might have eloped with her fiancée. Swamiji might have predicted the fall of the enemy empire.

Mrs. Serialkar is angry. She is not in a position to take an interest in any household activity. The food does not taste the same now. The children are too troublesome. The husband is too demanding. Days are too long. She is no longer sleeping like a log. Her ego does not allow her to talk to her neighbors and share her agony. She does not want to phone her sister and get updates on her favorite serials.

Life never was so cruel!!!!!!!!!!!!!