.. by Prof Rahmat Karim Baig

Time is the most precious asset that man has got and can build or destroy his life according to his capacity to manage his time – the 24 hour of the day and night, but now-a-days this has been brushed aside by most of us. For example members of a family in these days, go to bed late and naturally get up late in the morning. The housewife fails to prepare breakfast in time but gets  late and any member of the family with a job in an office fails to reach his place of duty late and this lowers his/ her status in the eyes of the head of the office; he may be reprimanded and finds his position lower compared to other punctual member of the staff. If he/ she is a teacher then his/ her late arrival creates issues for the head of the school and it also impacts the 35 minute period time table and shed bad affect on the students and their learning. Such a weakness is bad in the long run for the society concerned.

Punctuality  is a great value and adds to the credibility of the staff member concerned.  One may raise him/herself in the staff of the department by this habit. It is also an ‘intellectual dishonesty’ and has been cause of inquiries and dismissals from service or adverse remarks in the ACRs. It can also stop an employee’s promotion  and affect his income which can continue even after his retirement.

In the old social system of Chitral which was totally an illiterate society, the people managed their time. They got up very early in the morning, did their work per solar movement, on the indication of shade of trees or rocks etc. and closed their work properly. It is a Khowar proverb that ‘Khoro cheh ughoten ai qadam prushti’ –  for getting irrigation turn and water mill to grind flour one must take an extra step, that you will reach the specific spot before another share holder turns up at the spot, and occupy the first No. and right to enjoy the use of the thing in demand and thereby save your time and get back home earlier than a late riser  who shall miss his time and gets the last No. in the rotation of the particular source and thus lose your time  for other farm works. Therefore they rose at pre dawn and managed their time and as a result saved time for other works.

The old  Kho goat herders called ‘Pazhal’  of a gram ( village organization) drove his flock earlier than his rival from the next gram and  gave much more time to graze in better sites of the hills and helped the goats get fatter and grow better compared to other lazier herders. The same habit of early rising enabled the house wives to manage their domestic chores in efficient way than late risers. The late rising females often got harsh scolding from the male members of the family and thus domestic management ran into confusion and resulted in quarrels. The males or females of the old Kho who had inherited competitive nature or had found opportunities to develop their competitive instincts  did lead the settlement units. So time management is a very good quality and it has to be taught in schools by the teachers and the teachers have to be given training in this discipline and this has become a prerequisite in the midst of the present ways of life surrounded by time wasting gadgets introduced by modern technology. .. Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig, Chitral 14 Oct 2022