It was raining. Sitting at the window seat of the white Indica cab, Aditya took a deep sigh and gazed blankly at the water droplets dribbling down the window pane. He looked at his watch. It was almost 11’o clock at night. His son must be deep asleep by then, he imagined. He messaged his wife, “Will reach home in anthr 40 min. Luv U”. He closed his eyes, plugged the earphones into his ear; the deep baritone of Bhupen Hazarika’s “Dil hoom hoom kare…” took him to a state of trance and tranquility. He took another deep sigh and adjusted himself cozily in his seat.

oOo

Dev reached home a good one hour past midnight. He tip toed into his bedroom to find his wife asleep. His two year old daughter looked like an angel cuddled up in a white beautiful frock tightly hugging her mother while asleep. He kissed her forehead, reached for his mobile phone in his pocket and went out of the room.

“Dialing Adi” said his cellphone.

“Hey Adi, I was thinking the whole time about the man you told me about yesterday; what about we visit him tomorrow evening”

oOo

Aditya kept his phone down and started picturing the man. The wise guruji from the cave; The Wise Man.

oOo

Situated on the Pune-Mumbai road, Karla caves are approximately 40 km away from the city of Pune. Aditya and Dev took half day leaves from office to drive to the Karla Caves. The caves date back to the 2^nd century BC and represent the golden period of Buddhism in India.

Aditya had been to the caves before and had met the Wise Man. Dev could feel his heart pump faster as they neared the entrance of the cave. They took a right from a pillar that had four lions at the top. After walking through the hallway, they reached a dark corridor that lead to the virahas, the dwelling place of the monks. The place was warm and was beautifully lit with earthen lamps.

Near one of the carved out pillars sat a fragile white bearded man in grey robes. He was reading some scriptures.

Aditya and Dev touched his feet and sat down beside him. The Wise Man smiled at them and bowed. “What brings you here?” spoke the Wise Man in a deep baritone voice, quite atypical for a man who looked visibly weak.

“O, Wise Man, my name is Aditya and this is my friend, Dev. We have come from Pune. Both of us are married and have small kids at home. We work tirelessly for the welfare of our families. Yet there’s a problem…” spoke Aditya and looked towards Dev.

Dev continued, “..Guruji, the harder we try to work, the harder we fail. We have so many things in our head but are unable to achieve them due to lack of time.”

This was abruptly interrupted by the Wise Man, “What do you seek?”

Aditya, folded his hands in front of him and said, “O, holy man, we have heard about your miracles; they say that you’ve solutions to every problem and you grant wishes to the poor and the pure. We just have a simple plea”

“Please grant us a solution to our time crunch and end our dilemma so that we can lead a better life”, said Dev.

The Wise Man looked at Aditya in his eyes and asked to follow him to the chaitya, the prayer hall, while Dev was asked to wait at the viraha.

At the prayer hall, the Wise Man held Aditya’s right hand and told him, “I grant you two extra hours in a day. However there’s a condition. You can’t tell Dev anything about this and both of you should return together tomorrow after your day is over.” Aditya readily agreed, visibly ecstatic and excited.

Then the Wise Man took Dev to the prayer hall and told him, “Son, I’m taking away two hours off your day and granting it to Aditya. However tomorrow, I might reverse the roles but on one condition: You can’t tell Aditya anything about this and both of you should return together tomorrow after your day is over.” Dev was confused and let down. However he agreed.

oOo

The next evening, both Dev and Aditya arrived at the cave together. The Wise Man smiled at them. He asked Aditya, “Tell us, how you spent your day?”

Aditya seemed a bit disappointed and mumbled in a low voice, “O, Wise Man, my day was just fine, but I could have done much more. Infact, I became so carried away with the fact that I have two extra hours a day, that I became complacent. I also procrastinated and kept pushing my work and daily chores. To be frank I lazed around thinking that I can easily match my peers because I had the extra couple in my hand. At the end of the day, I didn’t actually achieve anything more than I would have done in a normal day. But later realized that it if only I had one more hour in my day…”

The Wise Man smiled as if he was expecting that answer.

“How was your day, Dev?” the Wise Man asked.

Dev replied, “At first, when I realized that I have two hours less than anyone else in the world, I was feeling a bit low. But while driving back from here to Pune last evening, I was so charged up in my head that I decided to make the best out of the time at hand. So I started my day by getting up earlier than usual. I ate a nutritious breakfast as I would need all the energy to finish my daily work on time. I even started multi-tasking e.g. I read the newspaper while having breakfast; a small innovation which lead to saving precious time. I reached office early & started working on my tasks with a renewed vigor. I started squeezing 70 seconds into every minute. I was inspired. I tried to innovate at my regular tasks and it paid off quite well. After lunch, I took a quick power nap of 15 minutes in the afternoon. By the end of the day, I had completed more than the tasks I would have done in a regular day and it took me by surprise. I realized that I was not doing different things, I was just doing my regular things differently: more effectively. I was not doing anything in a hurry, I was doing everything at my own pace, but the only difference was that I tried to improvise and that helped.”

The smile crept up the countenance of the old wrinkly face of the Wise Man. He said, “Yesterday, I extended Aditya’s day by two hours. On the other hand…”

He looked at Dev and continued, “…would you be surprised, Dev, if I tell you that I did nothing to your day. I didn’t reduce your day by two hours. I simply tricked your watch. I lied. You still have two more hours to your day.”

Dev was flabbergasted.

The Wise Man continued, “Time is not decided by the hands of the watch, my son. Time is a concept. Time saved is time gained. You can’t manage time; you can only manage yourself in time. Always remember that. There can always be twenty-four hours in a day, nothing more and nothing less. But you can bend time to your convenience. And as you rightly realized that time can only be saved by managing your chores more effectively and that can only be achieved by innovation. In earlier days, the distance between far lands were covered in years, then months and today we fly over oceans in matters of hours. That’s called evolution. That’s called innovation. And as you also rightly pointed out, innovation need not be something huge, it can be as small as reading your newspaper together with your breakfast.”

“So Dev, what would you like to do with these two extra hours you’ve today?”

Dev was taken aback at the naivety of the solution but was equally numbed down with the ferocity of it. His knees felt weak and he drooped down to support his body with his hands. He broke down.

Dev said, “Guriji, I would like to hug my little daughter, hold and kiss my dear wife, take care of my parents and enjoy the falling leaves. Yes Guriji, I would like to enjoy the falling leaves, close my eyes and feel the morning nip in the air, the cool breeze running through my hair. I would like to seek peace in solitude. I would like to climb the highest peak in the world and shout till my voice breaks, I would like to shout Guriji…shout till tears roll down my cheeks, tears of happiness, tears of peace, tears of realization. I would like to live my life in those two extra hours I saved”

“Then what are you waiting for” said the Wise Man.

oOo

This post is my entry to the Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart contest conducted by IndiBlogger. Surf Excel Matic is smart enough to get rid of stains while your clothes are inside your washing machine, so you don’t have to spend your precious time doing it separately. That’s what the Wise Man meant by innovation at small levels. Time saved is time earned.