It is all about timing

Recently there have been many questions raised about timing…timing of ‘Coup’, timing of ‘bribe’, timing of ‘litigation’, timing of ‘letter’ and so on……in this world everything is about timing; what with plenty of time going around….

It is IPL season once more. The timing couldn’t have been better for the King of good times – Vijay Mallya. He knows, we all know everything is about timing. The pilots of Kingfisher airlines withdrew the strike threat on being promised free tickets for all IPL matches involving Royal Challengers. The cabin crew has been promised a spot in the 2013 limited edition Kingfisher calendar. The timing of the IPL is a boon for Vijay M of KF, but not for the Vijay M of Chennai Super Kings. Murali Vijay, the dashing Chennai opener, could not get the timing of his stroke right and was dismissed early in their last night’s match with Mumbai Indians. But SRT got his timing of the injury right so that he does not have to play the remaining fixtures of IPL and can earn a living simply by sitting by the side of Nita Ambani in the stands. There was some advance planning too in the timing of handing over the captaincy to Harbhajan.

It is all about timing at the bourses. He who knows when to get in and get out with stocks and bonds in time makes money. Timing can be qualified. There is good timing and bad timing. Good timing for some may be bad timing for others. Those adversely affected by the timing will question motives behind timing.  Time and timing are not the same. They are like chalk and cheese. For instance one has to time his arrival at the airport such as to catch the flight in time as also not waste time at the airport waiting. Talking of cheese your photo will be good or bad depending on the timing of your smile in relation to the shutter action of the camera when posing. The timing of your arrival in this world, they say, influences your life. All the star positions are drawn out and the astrologer prophesies your future the quality of which is inversely proportional to the time of arrival and directly proportional to the ‘fees’ you can afford to pay him. Then there are astrologers like Bejan Daruwala (Can you beat this for an oxymoron name?) the generalists who time their predictions to suit the market returns.

But timing is not the same as horology either. Horology is statistics while timing is all about action, like birth and death. Like revelation of secrets. Like CBI raids on adversaries and ‘friends’. Like an interview to the media. But then everything in life is not timed. Most times they just happen…as they have to happen at some spot in the eternal cycle of time, the timing of events are speculated – mostly by those like me who it may seem have nothing more compelling to do. But I time my actions such that the timing takes cares of the lack of time. In other words timing is most essential to make optimum use of time.  By smartly timing actions time can be harnessed.

The question then is “Is timing a function of time or of action?”.

In the answer lies the secret of effectiveness.