A warning at the back of a big lorry meant for the continually honking vehicles behind read: “Jinhe jaldi thi, wey chale gaye (those in hurry passed away).” Beyond the capability to wait, patience is the attitude we adopt while we wait. One with patience stays without losing composure. Together with persistence patience, it is the essential attribute to get routine and special tasks accomplished befittingly, without hassle. Dazzled by the landmark discoveries, many are unable to see what was cooking over years and years. Behind each and every great achievement including the recent successful launch of India’s Chandrayan-3 lay a series of painstaking stages to be crossed after thoughtful consideration, and not in hurry. An apprentice engineer is enabled to imbibe the mechanical minutiae, and hone the trade skills only by honestly following the instructions of shop floor supervisor that also include patiently fixing, unfixing, refitting or hammering a machine part, and just cleaning it, at times repeatedly at boss’s behest.
Nothing of value comes to fore in haste. Ultimately what matters, says Stephen R. Covey, is “the ‘Law of the Farm,’ You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate, and water if you expect to reap the harvest [all of which take time].” Recall, most in demand among food connoisseurs the food, particularly dal (pulse) cooked over several hours in slow heat.
Inside a car on expressway hurrying at 120 km or so, you only see other vehicles overtaking, or those left behind and surely miss the fragrance from maturing mustard crops on either side, farmers transplanting rice, ladies’ group singing, the loaded tractor carrying baraatis and much more. Apart from being susceptible to accident, you are deprived of the variegated beauties of Nature scattered along the way because you had no time.
Excellence is never an accident; it is the corollary of a vision amalgamated with sincere efforts well executed. “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished,” said Lao Tzu. Flowers do not bloom hurriedly; a work of beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to come to fore. Many of us, ever in hurry don’t know where to go. Though ever in haste, yet often arrive late. Knowing that it is impossible to trip and fall while walking slowly, a seeker is never in hurry, because, as Paulo Coelho said, “he learns to master his impatience and avoids acting without thinking.”
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The writer is a blogger at www.bluntspeaker.com and can be contacted at teenbarthwal@gmail.com
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