Shhhhh.... Let the music play!

“Time dilation is the phenomenon whereby an observer finds that another's clock, which is physically identical to their own, is ticking at a slower rate as measured by their own clock. This is often interpreted as time "slowing down" for the other clock, but that is only true in the context of the observer's frame of reference.”

This is now a proven theory, proposed by the great, Sir Albert Einstein. One can find many great reads on this topic on the web. We, however, will discuss this phenomenon in more daily life relevance and the bizarre fashion it titillates us and drives us crazy.

Unless, some of us are amazing day dreamers, we are faced with this phenomenon day in and day out in our daily lives.

Every now and then.. intensity of restlessness of wait turns the ticks of clock into the water droplets crashing onto the forehead, driving us insane, like some Chinese Water Torture scene out of a horror movie.

In comparison to Einstein’s theory, we will interpret our own clock as the clock of our brain, which presumes that “this” much time has passed, while the time passed in the real clock is lesser. While Einstein gives “special relativity” as the reason for this phenomenon, we give “wait” as our reason.

Clicking of the shoes, tapping of the fingers, staring the same painting, useless page flipping of magazine… nothing helps… u glance at the clock and you shriek in your heart with a gasp, “what!!! Only 5 mins have passed, it feels like ages to me!”

This all happens while we are waiting. Wait has been one of the favorite subjects of writers and poets alike. Countless poems and plays have been written on it. One of the most interesting one of those is “waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. Time just doesn’t seem to pass. Waiting is mostly a bad experience, because there is generally some sort of anxiety or apprehension associated with it.

Waiting for interview: how will it go?
Waiting for lover: He is so late! I hope we don’t get caught.
Waiting for office to close: Ah! I am bored.
Waiting for result: I hope I did well.
Waiting for review: I hope my boss hates me a bit less than I think he does.
Waiting for the dentist: Will it hurt?
Waiting the fast to break: Me Hungry

When we talk about waiting, waiting rooms and places is the first thing which comes to mind along with the misery of the wait. Hospitals, offices, gardens, restaurants, … they come in all shapes and sizes.

One of my favorite comedians, Jerry Seinfeld, had the following monologue on waiting and specifically waiting rooms in one of his episodes.

JERRY: Waiting room. I hate when they make you wait in the room. 'Cause it says "Waiting room." There's no chance of not waiting, 'cause they call it the waiting room, they're going to use it. They've got it. It's all set up for you to wait. And you sit there, you know, and you've got your little magazine. You pretend you're reading it, but you're really looking at the other people. You know, you're thinking about them things like "I wonder what he's got. As soon as she goes, I'm getting her magazine." And then, they finally call you and it's a very exciting moment. They finally call you, and you stand up and you kinda look around at the other people in the room. "Well, I guess I've been chosen. I'll see you all later.”

So, how to fight this whole dilemma of time dilation? Lessening the misery of wait and improving the feel of the waiting room.

Practice your cool, calm and sexy look: While under pressure and under stress, it’s the hardest thing to achieve. So the next time you wait, try and work on that.
Read a book: If you are one of those who are always complaining that you never have time to read, well.. this wait slot is that time for you.
Cross the next level: If you were never able to go above a certain difficulty level in some hand held video game, this is your big chance.
Observe people: this is a good time to awaken the psychologist inside you and observe people’s behaviors around you.
Take up writing: Like how I am doing right now.
Plan a murder: If you have been wanting to murder someone for quite some time, now is a good time to work out a plan and give a through thought to the finer details
Solve a riddle: Take along a riddle you always wanted to solve. If you feel brave enough, also ask the hottest looking girl/guy to help you do it.

If you are still unable to do any of the above mentioned things, then I would suggest, at least stop biting your nails while you wait.

Happy waiting!

Special thanks to:
Arshia Azam
Mohammad Bilal

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation

http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheExGirlfriend.htm

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd205/demolitionxzombie/Famous%20Artists/meltingclock-dali.jpg

Posted in My Ranting

1 Response to "Time dilation"

1. 

   UncarvedJewel Says:
   
   July 8, 2009 at 9:31 PM

   nice observations