Twenty20

What are the best ways to spend 20 minutes?

The simple question came to my mind when we got an official message from our boss that we should not exceed the 20-minute limit if we go to have tea/coffee during working hours. Forget the classroom-type functioning of a newspaper desk like that of mine, I tried to bury arguments and anger to think what the ways are to spend the 20-minute timeframe.

The first thing came to my mind was that Mahadev da (our very own chai-wallah on the pavement) can easily serve a cup of tea or coffee in 20 minutes. That is not a problem at all. I can coolly step out and have my cup of tea and return to my workstation. But if I don’t come back? Instead, take a Metro or a bus back home. In a Metro, I can be almost halfway on my way home in 20 minutes. But a bus is not that fast, especially during the rush hours in Calcutta, where average vehicle speed is an astonishingly low at 6kmph. So, for my 17km journey from office, the bus would take at least 3 hours! But it won’t. The road I usually take, which links the city with airport, is a bit faster than others within Calcutta. In 20 minutes, I might reach Ultadanga, from where it would take another 20 minutes to reach my apartment near airport.

If I don’t take any transport back home, but try to spend the time at a bar near our office in the CBD area, what would be the best idea? Walk straight to Elfin, order beer, gulp it, pay and come back. Probably it would take just 15 minutes! After all, Elfin (and Chung Wah) are just next-door neighbours to us, and we should respect that if I get a 20-minute break.

In this IPL Twenty20 season, you can watch — like I did — Sachin-Jayasuriya ripping KKR bowlers apart and in just 20 minutes they rake up 50 runs in five overs. Or in election season, you can stand in a queue at a booth near you for 20 minutes to press the button for the right candidate — something I want to do on May 13. Or take a stroll by the Ganga on a breezy evening. But the time is 20 minutes!

One of my colleagues summed up the 20-minute project with an intelligent input. Foreplay: 10 minutes, play: 7 minutes and post-play: 3!!

What is your take for a 20-minute slot? Tell me....

©Supratim Pal, 2009