The Hourglass

Recently I got a nice WhatsApp forward where a man recites a beautiful poem. What he said resonated with me and, hence, wrote the poem down and also did a verbatim translation.

Ke umar sab guzar di, aur wakt hi mila nahin
Spent all my life, but never found the time

Kaha kisi ne aa milo, toh wakt hi nahi mila
When someone asked me come and meet, but never found the time

Kisi ka dard baant loon, toh wakt hi nahi mila
Wished I could share someone’s grief, but never found the time

Ji chaha kuchh likhun kabhi, toh wakt hi mila nahin
When in my heart I wanted me to write sometimes, but never found the time

Aaram karna chaha jo, toh wakt hi mila nahin
When I desired to rest and relax, but never found the time

Maa- baap ko mein wakt doon, toh wakt hi nahin mila
Wanted to give some time to my parents, but never found the time

Ye sehat gir rahi thi jab, mujhse kaha ki saare kaam chord doon, kisi doctor se wakt lo, toh wakt hi nahin mila
When my health was failing, they asked me to leave all work and take a doctor’s appointment, but never found the time

Kaamon ki ek kataar hai, jo zehan par sawaar hai, pichley jo sameyt loon, fehrist nayi tayyar hai
The list of things to do, always occupying the mind and by the time I get to finish some, a new to do list gets ready

Kaise sab khatam karoon, ke wakt hi nahi mila
How do I finish it all, for I never found the time

Kaise banegi baat phir, ke umar sab guzaar do aur wakt hi mila nahin
How will things work out since life passed by and I never found the time

Toh wakt ye kahan gaya, ke wakt hi nahin mila.
So where did the time go, that I never found the time.

I will not start telling you about why I never found time for any of the wishful things in the poem but shall tell you about some of the time-keepers of my time, wasted or otherwise. My earliest recollection is of a steel grey watch my father used to wear when I was just too young. It must have been a Swiss make watch for, possibly, we were not atmanirbhar then. On weekends, I would try and wear it but the steel strap was just too big and would end up above my elbow. Just seeing the arm with the watch on the dressing table glass was a proud moment for a young boy.

The earliest watch that I found myself wearing was HMT Sona in the late 1970s. My father had been presented with this beautiful golden watch in recognition of his long service with the oil company he worked for. By now my wrist had become of some size and, fortunately, the leather strap had multiple holes, one of which would fit me right. My father would let me wear it only on examination days but this masterpiece was used by the wearer to time his answers in a manner that ensured he would finish his writing at least thirty minutes before the scheduled time and was, without fail, the first to walk out of the dreaded room. The watch did not help the student much with his scores but he would wear the piece of art to show-off to the other students despite knowing fully well that many of his friends at school came from much more affluent homes and the wristwatches they wore were far more fanciful and expensive. HMT Sona remains, even to this day, a joyful memory and the trend that started early in life of being first out of the examination hall, remained a trait even in college and the competitive professional examinations later on in life.

The next time-keeper of great significance was my quartz Titan watch with day and date. It was the September of 1989 when my would be mother-in-law handed over money to the daughter to buy watches for ourselves for our upcoming wedding in November. We went to Urfees, the watch shop on Lindsay Street, in Calcutta. After trying out many a watch, D picked a nice one for herself and then started a selection for me. My eyes fell on a neat and simple looking steel grey model and I insisted on buying the same. When we reached back home, my MIL was upset that I had picked an inexpensive watch that cost just Rs. 650 and had not gone for a trendier and expensive one. I tried hard to convince her that I was not trying to save her money but that I genuinely liked the piece. This time-keeper was officially given to me as part of the marriage gifts the bride’s side offer in most Bengali weddings. I got to wear it for the first time a day after the wedding and during a walk in the evening with a close friend, I came home to find the watch missing from my wrist. It was late evening and with the help of torchlight, I was lucky to find the watch on the path to my house adjoining a crowded slum. I was now convinced, the watch had chosen its master and would never leave his side. Recently, on our thirty fourth anniversary, I pulled it out of the cupboard and found it working even till today without any servicing, thanks of course to D for ensuring that the batteries were replaced timely.

I wore my Titan watch for over twenty years and then when I moved out of my role as Business Head of Mumbai, my office colleagues presented a very expensive Swiss make watch, Xylus. It may sound funny but just two months earlier, I had presented a similar watch to a close friend who had helped us in some matter. I wanted to give him the best gift possible and now having got the same back on my own wrist, I can say with much conviction that when you give something with a good heart, it comes back to you and often in double measure. This was a heavy and classy watch but possibly I was found an unfit carrier for this time piece. After a couple of years of wearing and a couple of rounds of servicing, the manufacturers declared that the watch was unrepairable. The distributors offered me the option to buy any watch for the depreciated value of the dead Xylus. The world’s slimmest watch, Titan Edge, now found its way onto my wrist.

By now, daughter M was doing her internship, and she presented me a smart and sporty Espirit watch with a thick leather strap. This watch has never given me any trouble except the few rounds of strap changes that I had to do. Now my world revolved around the Shaadi ka Watch and Edge that I would wear to work on most days and Espirit was the special one that I wore on weekends and holidays. This was also special for M had paid her entire two months’ stipend to buy this watch for her Baba. This watch, even to this day, is and shall remain the Special One. The smart looking watch has also been an enigma to me. It has three dials inside the main frame and three knobs outside, none of which I have ever used or tried for find out what they are for. I just am happy seeing time tick away.

So now I had three watches to choose from…the old dependable Titan steel, the special occasion Edge and the weekender Espirit. Life was good and was rolling and pitching well till recently when a special gift came my way. One of the colleagues said that he and his wife are collectors of vintage watches and they picked it up from Kolkata just for me. They reached such a decision as the Favre Leuba watch came with a brand name, Sea Chief, which they linked to my long role as a Marine Insurance practitioner. This particular Swiss make watch dates back to 1962, a year before I was born. The white dial was limited to only 300 units and boasted the engineering marvel of a new and ground breaking movement ‘calibre 251’ also known as the notorious twin power that could work for fifty hours at a stretch. The watch has all original parts except the leather band that was recently changed. This is a hand winding watch and requires winding every day. How beautifully the cycle of life gets completed… from the hand-wound Baba’s Swiss watch and HMT Sona to the Swiss made Favre Leuba in 2024. It is fun to do the winding for a change now but wonder what will I do when I go for a vacation? My dilemma is now similar to D’s whose indoor plants need regular watering. Maybe, I shall either teach my gardener of old the right way to wind my vintage watch or will have to carry it with me always!

I sometimes think whether I should get a DNA check and find my roots which possibly will lead me to my ancestry in Switzerland. Just see how all the time Swiss watches land on my wrists out of nowhere. Just see the coincidence, my first visit overseas was also to Switzerland in 1999 and from there I had bought a gift for my mother, something she always dreamt of… a watch that she would wear on a chain on her neck, and the watch would lie inside a small locket on it.  And I found just that! It did cost me a fortune in those days with meagre forex in hand but her happiness at getting this gift made the buy worth every Swiss Franc spent.

The phrase ‘my time is running out’ has its origin in the sand filled hourglass. An hourglass or sandglass is a devise to measure the passage of time. It comprises of two glass symmetric bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of sand from the upper bulb to the lower one by gravity. The hourglass, with the addition of metaphorical wings, is often, depicted as a symbol that human existence is fleeting and the sands of time will run out for all humans. So now I believe, on completion of my sixty, the hourglass is reversed and the sand now has started trickling into the bulb below. Now it my time is to live a good life and make the best of it. So then let me conclude by the lines of a beautiful song…

Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindag

Chaon hai kabhi, kabhi hai dhoop zindagi

Har pal yahan, ji bhar jiyo

Jo hai sama, kal ho na ho…

SS