IST

(Rated PG)

To give you an idea of how this whole wedding thing is going to go, I'll start by telling you about a little bit of our trip planning discussion. Sharanya mentioned to me that we are going to be staying over night at the wedding venue so we won't be late and she thought I should bring a sleeping bag. Oh, says I, what time will the wedding start? 4:30 is the answer she gives me.

Now I'm confused. Is traffic so bad that it will take us all day to get there? Are there major preparations to be made? Will there be a lack of room at Chez Rajagopal? It's no problem, I could just get a hotel room close by...

Nope - the reason is something I had never even considered - she meant 4:30 AM. Apparently, this is the auspicious time. This is a culture where the timing of your wedding, the birth of your children and any other major events in your life are very important. But Indian's also don't give a shit about time. Over the past year or so I have come to terms with IST - Indian Stretchy Time.

I've also learned a few things about the fatalistic mentality that seems to accompany this concept of time or lack there of. After all, if you're going to be reincarnated until you get things right you're probably not going to worry if you miss the bus, there will be another one along...whenever.

For those of you who don't know me, lack of punctuality drives me nuts! But I have come to accept it with them. I've learned a whole lot about the very idea of time. It's funny to know so much about ideas like Karma, Moksha or the Buddha nature of the universe, but until you experience them in an everyday situation, you don't realize how different that way of thinking really is.

It seems to me that everyone in the world experiences our linear, anal retentive, GMT standards because we have shipped our culture all over the world. Having lived with the ideas of reincarnation for thousands of years, Indians generally just have a completely different concept of time. I kind of like it. Linear was getting a little boring.

Let me enlighten you with a text exchange I had with Sharanya.

Me: are you guys planning on coming down today?
Sharanya: Nope we don't have the invites with us. I still need to do some shopping.
Me: Isn't it a little late for invites? :)
Sharanya: Haha. we are indians. ergo its never too late.

Metaphysically speaking, that is one of the funniest fucking things I have ever heard.

Oh, I just got the invitation. The wedding actually starts at 9:00am...give or take.