When we are going to think of the time to do something there are two times we have to consider the Actual Time & Sri Lankan Time. (It becomes three if we consider auspicious times/රාහු කාලය as well)
Sri Lanka as a nation is late. We all know it, and all of us contribute towards it. We are late when it comes to bringing on important education reforms, important laws (seat belt law for example), responding to critical situations. But most of all when it comes to going to a place on time we are late (including me).
From the tender years of our lives we are told many things about punctuality and all of us remember the wise words of our elders. One favorite quote is “Value of time is equal to the value of gold/ කාලය රන් හා සමානයි”. So we all know the virtues of working on time. But the thing is we never make an effort to be somewhere on time. Unless we know that we have to make a very good impression. (Job interviews and exams are not the only to be on time.)
There are several re
asons for being late, one being our laziness. On a day without traffic I can go to university in about 30mins if I travel by car. So this is the time I allocate for my trip to university every day I go in a vehicle. I’m too lazy to consider factors such as weather, traffic , accidents. So when these factors are adverse I’m late. (so I have to spend the extra time to come up with colorful excuses to tell the lecturers as the reason for being late.)
Another reason for being late (which by the way is very popular) is that we think that others would be late. We see this especially when it comes to departing on a trip. During my whole life I have never left on a trip on time. So most people come late intentionally because they think others will come late. These people even go to the extent of making fun of the people who actually came on time (“අපි දන්න හින්ද තමයි වෙලවට ආවෙ නැත්තෙ”).
(When I was small in about year 7 or year 8, when it was the day to go on the class trip I wanted to leave home as early as possible, I really thought my whole class would come on time and would leave without me. So being there on time was a serious business. I used to freak out, urging my father to get ready saying that he’s going to make me late, and if I’m really lucky I would get to leave the house by the time I was supposed to be in school. And when I got to school I find myself belonging to the few people who came early. I would be so angry with my class mates. I would also find out that I have left some important stuff at home in my haste to leave home. Now it’s my father’s time to yell at me for all the nagging and bothering I did earlier. This is how I picked up the habit of intentionally being late.)
There are also some who think it’s fashionable to be late, and then get all the attention of some place. I think it were the politicians who were the trendsetters this time. When it came to gracing an occasion they were always late. I remember waiting and waiting during prize givings at school waiting for the relevant politicians to come. (I’m sure my thoughts during those moments, which mind you were long, would have brought many ill effects to the parents’ of those politicians.)
Guys used to employ this technique a lot to during A/Ls classes to make sure the girls knew that they existed. (Nowadays we seem to have outgrown that habit. But I’m certain the current A/Ls students have taken up this, to replace us.)
And for all those humble souls who get late thanks to feeble memories, well I feel for you. You just can’t help being late.
Since i myself is guilty of being late, i don't think i'm in any position to offer advice on the matter. So if some one does have advice it would be appreciated.
Remember “Better late than never, but never late is better”.
I don't think its a coincidence, if I say I also came across such an incident today, because it has become such a common occurrence among Sri Lankans.
The practices were SCHEDULED to start at 9 and until 10.30 - 11 a sufficient number of colleagues were not present to get things rolling. And even after 11, one by one sneaked in.
And the irony of the situation is, for majority of the people, reading a book (which I used to carry after many such bitter incidents) while things started was the odd thing.. The case of people arriving even after two hours past the SCHEDULED time seemed to be the norm.
It is so bad that people don't understand the effect one person's laziness having on the energetic man-hours of many in a team. And everyone of us has the responsibility of influencing our colleagues, to be punctual and to utilize every single minute, by very light weight habits like carrying a book in the back pack always or having some audio books ready in our mp3 players. Those few minutes that otherwise would have been wasted, will mean lot in the end!
Something that I too would have loved to discuss about. I know that you were inspired by someone on this topic :)
I've noticed these since childhood and I'm really sad about the situation. Sri Lankan time can be defined by these factors and then the GMT +0530 would be invalid.
As a personal policy, I never get late intentionally. I'm always a few minutes (atleast) early but rarely late. I do expect the same from others but ultimately am disappointed every time. It is obvious that everyone knows this fact and inform the time as about half an hour earlier than the actual time when planning an event. They say people will come at 5 only if we say it starts at 4, something like that, and I end up being there at the time informed and going through hell.
Take this example of going for a movie at a cinema in Colombo. There are many advertisements and trailers screened before the movie starts. That has become a reason for people coming late for a movie while someone who bought tickets for them having to wait at the entrance till they arrive, or walk through the darkness taking the risk of tripping over!
The dad's Lions Club has seen many problems in this regard too. People coming very late for the meetings started annoying a few. Here too the excuse was that the others would come late so why 'waste time by coming early'. Ultimately it was decided that meetings in future will be started with whatever the number present. The following meetings saw members getting late but now it has improved. Everyone come on time!
So it must be made a habit by someone who is willing to take the initiative. If these events are frequent, start it on time regardless of who is not present at the time which will definitely make them be on time in the future.
Anyhow, we Sri Lankans must learn the importance in this regard. Labour drives a major part of our economy. Laziness and bad punctuality will risk it and have an adverse effect. We have already been given many freebies because of holidays for any small thing.
We must improve our punctuality and be more productive, atleast for the sake of our country!
btw, i really like the caption picture :)