Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today

Most of you would agree with me on the relevance of this proverb in today’s competitive and fast paced world.

I cannot forget an incident, which happened in my life when I was studying in Class VI and my sister in Class III.

We used to live in a beautiful village called Vayalar in Kerala. Our ancestral home was located in the middle of a large coconut garden. To the east of our compound was the branch of a shallow canal, which was occasionally used to bring our small wooden boat from the Vembanad backwaters. The canoe could comfortably take six children, and we used to get into it and row it along the canal.

It was rainy season and the water level in the canal and the paddy fields had risen. We used to wait for the brief intervals between the rains to jump out and play. On Sunday, as usual, my dad has given me the task of reading a small book on Nehruji. Since it was raining outside, he might have thought that this was the best way of keeping me indoors. He was attending to some domestic work. I got into my room with the book. From the first few pages, I realised that the book was very interesting and could complete the same in a couple of hours. In no time, I was immersed in the book, and was making significant progress at a decent pace. Unfortunately my friends had other plans.

My cousin sister, elder to me by 2 years came home and said, "Daa, the paddy field is looking beautiful. It is full of water lilies with flowers of different colours. The rains have subsided now. We can go to the field in our canoe and pluck those pink, white and violet flowers. I saw then when I was returning from aunty’s house in the morning." I couldn’t hide my excitement. Closing the book, I asked, "Who all are coming?" She rattled out the names of most of our friends. "Can we go after lunch, so that I could finish this book by then?" I asked.
"Probably, by then, the rain would intensify and we might not be able to go today. It is okay if you are late. We are moving on." She said and ran out.

I was very disturbed. The page I was reading seemed to be endless. She little realised the impact of the bomb – temptation, she has planted in my mind. I closed the book, called my sister and joined the jing bang team at the canal. In the hurry, I also forgot to tell my dad or mom about our plan. Hey, sorry folks, I lied. It was not that I forgot. I deliberately didn’t ask them, knowing fully well that permission would not be granted. I thought I could spend some time at the paddy field, wade through the water, pluck some flowers and sneak back into my room before dad could find out.

We rode our canoe straight into the paddy field. We swam in the water, dived down reaching for the long pedicel of the lily flowers. In some time we collected a big bunch of flowers – white, pink, violet and even blue!! The ones with long pedicels were deftly crafted into garlands. Everyone was happy that they could gather a good collection in no time. I walked back home with my sister, happily, carrying our collection. The beautiful garlands were worn around our slender necks. I am sure that we would have looked like gypsies. I started getting butterflies in my stomach when we entered our compound. As expected, my dad was darting across the verandah anxiously. My sister proudly displayed our collection, without realising the impact it could make on him. By then, I knew that all the happiness we had for some time was shortlived.

"Where were you? Do you know how long were you out of home? Have you completed the book on Nehruji?" he asked in a breath. Before I could move, I felt the cane on my legs. While I was writhing in pain, my sister slipped away. After completing with my quota, he went after her. She ran around the pond like a deer, so that he could not catch her. After two rounds in vein, he gave up and returned home.

He saw me on my bed with Nehruji. The short knickers revealed the pink cane marks on my inner thighs. He couldn’t hide a tear in his eyes when he caressed my legs. He said "First things first. There would be so many temptations in life that would give you momentary highs. One should be balanced in mind to say "No" to many of them to stay in your chase of priorities."
It took me years of life, thereafter, to figure out what he meant. In this fast paced and extremely competitive world, it is very important that we accomplish most of the tasks we have set out for ourselves, on a day to day basis, in the pursuit of our goal. We would find temptations of various sorts, all around us, diverting our focus from the ultimate thing we are chasing.

Procrastination is the thief of time.
No project is completed until it’s objective has been met.