The Culture of Disrespecting Time
Arun Budhathoki
Time is important for all of us, irrespective of who we are, employer or employees. I think it is very rude to make people wait for more than fifteen minutes to do an interview. The employers should keep in mind that the prospective employees are busy too and making them wait only defines their work ethics and attitude towards the unemployed and employed people. This has to change to transform the image of a company and also influence the mind-set of its employers. If the time taken for interviews is such, then the employers shouldn’t accept its employees to be on time and work under pressure for them. Both attitudes of employers and employees should match as none of them are robots and humans can err, which we know, from experiences and research. On the other hand, Nepali people are collectively to be blamed.
In the last three months, we have witnessed how patient Nepalis are when it comes to buying petrol for as high as Rs 300 to 500. They don’t even complain or protest against the government. We patiently wait in the long dull sad queues before the dreary looking petrol pump. We do not even go to Singha Durbar but creatively point at the hundreds of problems but do not provide a single solution. We have become a master of problem finders but a loser in seeking solutions. That’s the key difference between us and people in the western world. However, I disagree to dissuade implementing western solutions—we can at least start repairing our breaking frontiers by respecting time. The culture of disrespecting time is rampant in the governmental sector and everywhere else. It is deeply entrenched in our psyche: yestai cha yaha (It is like this here). And we do nothing about it. We calmly wait for the interviewer to call us and don’t ask when the interview is going to start. We don’t even care to ask the foreign country going ministers who send their kids and relatives to China about their ethical values.
Two days earlier there was twenty fours power-cut hiatus in my locality, Shantinagar, New Baneshwor and I was wondering where I could complain about it. With no idea about it, finally the power came back around 23:30 and it was only the next day I came to know that few people from the locality had gone to the concerned authorities to complain on it. If they hadn’t gone and complained, it seems the government employees would have delayed repairing it. That is the culture here—taking time lightly and delaying everything for tomorrow, next year. While other countries are busy planning space exploration, we are postponing works and delaying important projects.
The psyche of disrespecting time can be seen among our leaders too. Although they are smart enough to make sure that they don’t go hungry and sick after they quit politics. But the same leaders took so much time to pass the Reconstruction Authority bill which was vital to forward the post-quake relief and reconstruction works. There’s no time to wait for the earthquake-hit people who are facing extreme winter. Those living in the capital city already know how it feels to be cold. Do we have extra time to read about our fellow people including the quake-affected, dying of cold?
The culture of disrespecting time needs to change. We need to eradicate it first in our psyche and work for changes in every sector of this country. Or else, with our Human Development Index (HDI) nosediving, we will continue to be one of the poorest countries in South Asia and the rest of the world. Others will move ahead in time, whereas we will continue to live in the time where everything is delayed. Time waits for none.
(Budhathoki is a graduate of International Relations)
