Two minutes

The term “two minutes” became popular probably because of a certain advertisement of a product that you could cook in two minutes. Two minutes, like the snap of your fingers, and your hunger was gone.

But in reality, what a lot can happen in two minutes!

In two minutes you could miss your bus or train, with subsequent results. You could be recorded late at your workplace. You could be just there close by, but not close enough to take hold of a person who is falling. You could feel the ball slipping through your fingers in a cricket match. Or you could get that cosy two minute extra sleep in the morning.

Like it happened to me the other day.

What with the cold gradually creeping in, mornings are not exactly not the best of times to wake up. Especially if you’ve been stuck with your laptop till close to midnight. Yet wake up I did, and with great reluctance, tossed my blanket aside and sat on the edge of the bed, not quite ready to greet the day.

Opening my eyes feebly to check on the time, I saw that I had woken up five minutes earlier than my usual. 6:25am. Meaning I had lost out on a good five minutes of my precious sleep.

The blanket was tempting. Two minutes, just a wee two minutes under the blanket surely wouldn’t make a difference. Hadn’t I, after all, woken up five minutes earlier?

I slid back under the blanket. Two minutes later I woke up. Or so I thought till I looked at the clock.

Yikeeees! The clock showed 9:15! Office started at 9:30.

Fifteen minutes later, I was at my laptop. Thank goodness for the occasional work-from-home option.
Vidya Shankar

(Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Nov 11, 2017)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/2e91c2b8-804f-4f89-8923-e970d6ddde7b.aspx

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