For the first time ever, I went to the market to buy a wrist watch. My sister had decided that she wants a wrist watch as her birthday present this year. Like an obedient elder sister I went with her to browse the market. Watching watches was and is something totally out of my league and so my observations might sound naive and make no sense whatsoever. But nevertheless, here is what I realized.
Time is powerful I always knew, but time is also very expensive! I might sound like a miser but I think God saved me a lot of unnecessary expenditure when he gave me a metal allergy. I was a time addict. Couldn’t imagine my life without my wrist watch exactly 12 years 5 months and some-x days ago. One fine day I feel a bad rash on my wrist and observe similar rashes around my neck, ears and a hand. It didn’t take me much time to realize that suddenly, out of the blue, one fine day my skin decided that it hated metal and so wherever metal touched me, my skin showed its complete disapproval through rash attacks. Within a day I had to give up on metal. No watch, no artificial jewelry and no other metal works. So much so that I couldn’t even hold keys for too long, otherwise my palm had rashes on it. Anyway, so it has been almost 13 years, I haven’t worn a wrist watch and yesterday I realized how much money I had saved by not being that much into having time on my wrist all the time.
A very interesting observation of mine was that more the detail in the dial, the less is the price. My sister wanted a sleek looking, metal strap watch with every detail written on the dial. She was very specific that she wants numbers on the dial so that it doesn’t take time to figure out the time. I am suddenly finding this idea of buying a watch very inherently ironic. I am not sure how to put it across. Basically we were trying to buy a machine that will not take time to reveal time. The more I try to understand time the more mysterious it gets. I don’t know it’s apparent or not but I feel if ‘time’ was a person I would be in love with him. Time is the most romantic proposition of mankind.
So, coming back to the shop we were in and the point that I was making, we discovered that the price of the watch was inversely proportional to the number of numbers on the dial. If all the numbers were written, we were able to find the watches priced around 2000 Rs. - but these were not sleek and stylish and had a plastic or leather strap. Basically they were basic. The next range was around 5000 Rs. And the watches in this category either had lines for the numbers or just had four lines signifying the numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9. Not very difficult to tell the time but still not as quick a process as the ones with proper text on them. And then was the range of above 5000 Rs. Now this was intriguing! Not only did these have no numbers at all on the dial, but also there was no line or dot or notch that would atleast give you a hint of the number 12. A person like me could even wear it upside down in a hurry and spend the whole day looking at the wrong time. And it wouldn’t even be the watch’s fault. It would be the right time in the wrong direction and the wrong perception would make it the wrong time. Crazy!!!
Now, it is a coincidence I am sure, but the thought that struck me was that more the ambiguity about time, more expensive the prospect is. So basically we want to pay more for the idea of not being able to tell the time properly. You want to know the exact time? The cheapest option. You want to be exact but waste time to tell time? Pay a little more. You don’t want to know the exact time and you also want to waste time? Show me the money!!!
Come to think of it, what’s the point of having time tied to your body anyway?
Time is powerful I always knew, but time is also very expensive! I might sound like a miser but I think God saved me a lot of unnecessary expenditure when he gave me a metal allergy. I was a time addict. Couldn’t imagine my life without my wrist watch exactly 12 years 5 months and some-x days ago. One fine day I feel a bad rash on my wrist and observe similar rashes around my neck, ears and a hand. It didn’t take me much time to realize that suddenly, out of the blue, one fine day my skin decided that it hated metal and so wherever metal touched me, my skin showed its complete disapproval through rash attacks. Within a day I had to give up on metal. No watch, no artificial jewelry and no other metal works. So much so that I couldn’t even hold keys for too long, otherwise my palm had rashes on it. Anyway, so it has been almost 13 years, I haven’t worn a wrist watch and yesterday I realized how much money I had saved by not being that much into having time on my wrist all the time.
A very interesting observation of mine was that more the detail in the dial, the less is the price. My sister wanted a sleek looking, metal strap watch with every detail written on the dial. She was very specific that she wants numbers on the dial so that it doesn’t take time to figure out the time. I am suddenly finding this idea of buying a watch very inherently ironic. I am not sure how to put it across. Basically we were trying to buy a machine that will not take time to reveal time. The more I try to understand time the more mysterious it gets. I don’t know it’s apparent or not but I feel if ‘time’ was a person I would be in love with him. Time is the most romantic proposition of mankind.
So, coming back to the shop we were in and the point that I was making, we discovered that the price of the watch was inversely proportional to the number of numbers on the dial. If all the numbers were written, we were able to find the watches priced around 2000 Rs. - but these were not sleek and stylish and had a plastic or leather strap. Basically they were basic. The next range was around 5000 Rs. And the watches in this category either had lines for the numbers or just had four lines signifying the numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9. Not very difficult to tell the time but still not as quick a process as the ones with proper text on them. And then was the range of above 5000 Rs. Now this was intriguing! Not only did these have no numbers at all on the dial, but also there was no line or dot or notch that would atleast give you a hint of the number 12. A person like me could even wear it upside down in a hurry and spend the whole day looking at the wrong time. And it wouldn’t even be the watch’s fault. It would be the right time in the wrong direction and the wrong perception would make it the wrong time. Crazy!!!
Now, it is a coincidence I am sure, but the thought that struck me was that more the ambiguity about time, more expensive the prospect is. So basically we want to pay more for the idea of not being able to tell the time properly. You want to know the exact time? The cheapest option. You want to be exact but waste time to tell time? Pay a little more. You don’t want to know the exact time and you also want to waste time? Show me the money!!!
Come to think of it, what’s the point of having time tied to your body anyway?
(p.s. I wish digital watch was an option on my sister's list.)
No comments:
Post a Comment