I am VERY Busy

-
In this teeming city of millions it seems everybody is a floating island, nobody has time for anybody as everybody is very busy. They look busy, act busy, say "I'm busy", walk fast, and talk fast and what not. At my workplace when I talk to my colleagues, they say "It's been a hectic week", "I'm going home late everyday", "I don’t even have time to get up for lunch" and so on.

I know somebody (who works part time) and calls us off an on for some reason or the other and her primary theme of conversation is that how busy she is and how full her social calendar is and how blessed we should feel that she actually found time to call us and inquire about our well being. Another lady who again works on a free lance basis loves to say that her phone is hardly ever free for 12 hours in a day because so many people are trying to reach her. She at one point said that we should not bother calling her on her birthday as the chances of getting through her on her phone would be remote! I know many more people with the same disease.

I prefer to call it a disease because in reality by saying 'I am busy" one creates a moat around one's self by not allowing people to cross over. Even the so called partying set of Mumbai conveniently seeks refuge in their cell phones whenever they feel threatened by invasion of their private spaces. I wonder what makes people falsely project that they are the busiest people on this earth when they are not? Is it low self esteem which makes them hide behind these self created veneers? Or is it that they like to live in a world of their own creation where they are in demand every second? Sometimes I think it’s a cry for help to save themselves from their lonely existence.

In my corporate experiences, I have seen that when most people approach me, they first ask me "Are you busy?" and I always say "No - nothing that cant be done later", though sometimes I do say "Yes I am busy" when I genuinely want to avoid a person! I find it intriguing that over time in our homes and work places, we have become hesitant to cross each others moats - even if the draw bridges have been lowered, we seek permission before we cross.

Comments

Persona non gratis said…
I would comment on your post, but..
I am very busy.
10:31 PM
Kausum said…
Everyone wants to show they are normal. And being normal in a city like Bombay is to be busy. To be doing activities, working, shopping, partying but being busy so they can always talk on the cellphones because they are on the go and the reason for having cellphones ....

I think its more of hiding that they are not normal, while they are normal.

Btw, I need to go now, coz I am busy .. but havent seen you for a while around in the blogs. Looks like you are busy too.
12:45 AM
Anonymous said…
I am absolutely free so I CAN comment!!:-) You are right - what makes it worse is that its not just in Bombay - its all pervading now. Being busy is considered the "in thing". Maybe I should take the hint..:-)
4:01 PM
ichatteralot said…
@Shreemoyee: Ha ha ha ...

@Kausum: I'm not exactly busy but I have more to do these days which and one needs a quiet mind to write which is in short supply these days! Agree with what you say..

@Anonymous: I am always free ... sometimes I wonder why! Anyway I feel that relaxed and at ease people can get much more done than 'acting busy' people...
11:38 AM
zypsy said…
i won't say they are lonely. people say "i'm busy" when they want to avoid a person! or when they don't want to do something!
1:32 PM
Nautilus said…
I've been soooo busy lately that didn't get time to visit your blog!
Anyway, now that i'm completely vela, I'll fill up my time by commenting on this post... ;-)
12:27 AM
ichatteralot said…
@Zypsy: Yes thats true as well but one cant always be busy for all people!

@Nautilus: Should I say thank you??? :D
12:19 PM
Di said…
very true...i for one believe that u cud be busy for a day but not more than that..everyone has the same share of time each day..and the same amount of things to do (though they may disagree on this one)...i always believe time spent on friends and people who caer is worth more than atleast twice the amount of work that we cud do in that time.. :)
9:53 PM
austere said…
:)

rest of the words gulped away- toooh buzzy youh seeah
10:42 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sibling Rivalry

-
My cousin and I grew up together in Delhi; our Mothers were good friends so as families we met very often. Our dolls used to spend the week at each other's houses, we used to make 'Fanta' by powdering orange drops and then mixing it with Soda, we used to cook food in toy utensils over a candle flame, we used to play 'Beauty Parlor' with our dolls where we would be the beauticians and our dolls at the receiving end of our experimentations. She introduced me to the forbidden Star comics, which were a pictorial representation of a romantic story. Then the kiss seemed a repulsive thing - imagine a man and woman exchanging saliva - YUCK! However curiosity about this man woman thing (however yucky it seemed) made us consume quite a few of this disreputable literature before we were caught. She was the darling of the colony, everybody knew her, and even my Mother would comment that she is such a bright and lively girl. "Why can’t you be more like her?" She would ...
Read more

Death of a Newspaper

-
(Based on thoughts generated by the article in my previous post) When I see the Times these days, I wonder whether I can continue subscribing to this paper for long. From a paper who believed in serious journalism it has degenerated into a rag which mostly prints syndicated material with some writing here and there by correspondents. My uncle was an eminent journalist with the Times, my cousin was the Editor for a while, I grew up with discussions about politics and happenings at the newspaper office and somehow Times has been a habit for as long as I can remember. Now it has grown into a massive media juggernaut and the groups priorities seem to have shifted and it seems they take the slogan 'sex sells' very seriously indeed. They can read the minds of the strapped for time urban lot who prefer light reading. They know exactly how to add spice to each and every section. Even Economic Times has the occasional titillating picture or a 'juicy' snippet. The morons that we ...
Read more

Going Back

-
For the past 15 years I had been contemplating about going back to Delhi - just to visit friends and look up all the old places that I used to frequent while I lived there. Somehow the opportunity or a reason to go to Delhi never came up and going alone for a weekend just to mingle with old friends was frowned upon heavily by family. Thankfully a very dear friend of mine decided to get married and the whole family had a reason to go to Delhi. There was a lot of excitement everywhere, another dear friend called me and threatened dire consequences if I didn't stay with her and both of us had a lot of conversations about our husbands meeting for the first time, food likes and dislikes and the menu plan for the five days that we would stay with her. The menu plan was an impressive array of Mongolian, Lebanese and Italian cuisines along with some Indian fillers which I used to eat at her house many moons ago. I was to be the guinea pig for the recipes that would make it to her soon to b...
Read more