From Mexico City
FC 204 on Puerto Rico & Revolving Doors was like a two-in-one, not one-by-two. Yet a few readers felt I served them coffee in a small paper cup. If you track my earlier posts of the recent past, you will find that comments used to make up a good part of the first page. In terms of length, FC 204 was fairly long but looked shorter in the absence of the comments. Readers, now you know how you influence the impression that some readers have about its length.
Mercifully, FC 204 did fetch a few comments:
Padma Satish from the USA writes: “My company in India had sent me to the US and every weekend I travelled with my colleagues with an overnight bag to visit some of the big cities. One weekend we visited NYC and the Twin Towers (which fell in September 2001). At the revolving door, I hastily stepped in with my overnight bag, along with a tall, white American and needless to say my bag caused the door to get stuck for a moment. I can never forget the dirty look the American guy gave me!”
Damandeep has this to say: “What an insightful read! I never knew revolving door is extensively used as a metaphor, whether in employment or politics! We learn every day! Thanks for sharing your travel experiences.”
Damandeep, your comment that we learn every day set me thinking about the revolving door our minds develop when we unlearn old ways of doing things and learn new ways.
Krupa Murthy says: “Amazingly written and so informative — especially the revolving door, which I loved using at the World Trade Centre in New York!! I dread using a similar one now. As age progresses, anything revolving or revealing is anathema!! Enjoy your holiday but keep regaling us with your magical brew, Pras.”
Niharika Jain says: “Enlightening historic information on Puerto Rico. Should plan a trip for prospecting :). Enjoyed your write-up on the revolving door and its connotations. Thank you, Prasanna!”
⏳Pastime & Time-Pass
On the face of their relative meaning, they appear synonymous but are, in reality, antonyms. I ask myself a question — is writing and posting FC a pastime or a time pass? Reflecting as far back as I can, writing a Sunday blog was an idea given to me by my son and daughter to gainfully use my time, while confined to the house, during COVID-19. They said, just start writing, you will not know how time has passed.
So, was FC a time-pass activity? I would think so, at least it seemed like one until much later when, post Covid-19, I continued to write. In effect, what started as a time-pass activity morphed into a pastime.
There is a sense of regularity associated with pastime as opposed to transient time pass. An activity which is time pass for some could be the pastime of others. It is the regularity of the activity that distinguishes one from the other. Take for example performing arts. It can be a pastime for someone who is seriously and regularly engaged in one or the other form of art.
It can be a time pass for someone who casually takes part in a street play to spread awareness about something, strums a guitar or some activity of a casual nature.
What starts as a time pass may well transform into a pastime. I've known people who took to photography as a time-pass activity, making it a pastime. In the olden days of the Kodak Box Camera, the cost of Kodak Films made photography an expensive hobby elusive to many. But as digital photography took root, many took to photography as a pastime, particularly in the nature photography segment. Today, the cell phone is used more as a camera than as a phone.
That doesn’t make every cell phone user a photographer. For some, it is a time pass thing to ‘snap’ up any and everything they behold.
Is book reading a pastime or just for passing the time? People who take to reading with passion and with a thirst for knowledge are markedly a different lot than those who casually read something that piques their interest. My wife and daughter belong to the former category, and I to the latter. One such voracious reader I have come across is my friend Chandu Misra whose unsatiated thirst for books, both fiction and non-fiction, has left me stumped. Another nonagenarian, Mr. Padmanabha laments his failing vision but is steadfast in his pursuit of knowledge.
Talking of fiction and non-fiction, an avid book reader doesn't need to have to be loyal to both. I for one, can read a 200-page fiction and finish it (hopefully) in about 10 days. As a lawyer, I read some of the driest stuff, as my wife puts it, and have hardly any appetite left for non-fiction. An avid fiction reader can do some time pass reading an occasional non-fiction book, and so could an avid non-fiction reader enjoy a fiction. Book reading is a classic case of people alternating between pastime and time pass. Imagine an avid book reader like Chandu browsing in an airport bookshop during a layover! He may appear passing the time, but in reality, he is in pursuit of his passion for books.
What you do for a living is an occupation or profession. What you do when you are not working but when you have time on your hands can qualify for either pastime or to pass the time. If during lunch break you pour over a cross-word puzzle or sudoku, it is your hobby or pastime. But if you decide to chit-chat with your colleagues, that would be a case of time pass.
All of us (except maybe some) are crazy about cricket. I pass the time watching re-plays, as I have no patience watching the entire match. Some pass the time watching both. But for some, it is a pastime, a hobby, to play cricket. There are professional cricketers, who play cricket for a living. For them, playing golf may either be a hobby or a time pass activity.
Homemakers too, have hobbies which qualify for pastimes like knitting, reading etc and may pass time watching soap on the TV. They can influence children to develop hobbies and not while away spare time. It is not that children are not allowed to pass time, but a homemaker might believe that a pastime is better than passing time. Running a household is a serious business and is a full-time job, not just a pastime.
It is often said and believed that an amusement or a hobby pursued in one's leisure is nothing but passing time. But there is a fallacy there. A hobby is something that one would engage in instinctively when there is free time. There is a certain regularity to it as opposed to passing time which can involve any random activity. True, one can amuse oneself by pursuing a pastime or in an activity to pass the time, but there is an element of tangible or intangible productivity in a pastime.
For many men, cooking is a pastime, and for some it is eating what is cooked. Going on a diet and watching what you eat is part of self-induced discipline and is not a ‘time pass’ activity. It can be a pastime if you take it up as your mission, during your spare time, to spread awareness about the benefits of healthy food habits. That is a professional pursuit for dieticians, but for you, it will be a pastime. Now to end this in a lighter vein, here are a few time-pass jokes:
Q: Why did the thief jump into the bathtub?
A: He wanted a clean getaway.Teacher: Johnny, you have 5 dollars and your Mom gives another 5. How much do you have?
Johnny: Five
Teacher: you don’t know addition.
Johnny: You don’t know my mother.A guy cracked jokes about unemployment, but none of them worked.
Readers, cracking timepass jokes is my pastime. Hope you understand. Until next week, take care and be safe. Ciao!
Time pass? I remember reading all and sundry billboards and posters in Tamil while on travel by bus years ago. This was time pass, but in the process I began to know my mother tongue better. In Mumbai, people would call peanuts ‘timepass’ which is a quirky way of looking at an enjoyable snack. As for pastime? Really, my work with NGOs is both work and pastime for me!
juggling between time pass and passtime, with a real coffee in hand, i didnt know how the time passed and the coffee empty !!
wonderful reading it ..
have a nice time and await more brew ..