BETTER LATE

                                                                                                            R.K.Narayan

                        R.K.Narayan is a well known Indian writer in English.  He has written many novels like Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The Dark Room.  He has also written a number of essays on general issues and current affairs.  All his essays are strewn with mild humour and pungent satire.  Better Late is a typical essay of R.K.Narayan.

                        Generally, people look down upon delay as a trait which one should avoid in one’s character.  Even in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, procrastination is treated as a tragic flaw that brings  the downfall and death of Prince Hamlet. But R.K.Narayan gives a different approach to delay.  He argues in this essay that delay need not necessarily be regretted as it brings many advantages to man.

                        R.K.Naryan holds the opinion that things in the world can be classified into two- the things that can survive delay and things that cannot tolerate delay.  Meeting a person, getting up from bed, reading a book can be done with a little delay.  Nothing would be lost even if they are done a little late.  Setting right a fracture, catching a train, attending an interview or examination belong to the second category where delay should be avoided.

                        R.K.Narayan humorously says that the Indians are always concerned with eternity and so they do not pay any attention to time.  To them, a wrist watch is a mere ornament and not a guiding factor.  Here, one will be depressed and dejected if one is too time-conscious.  Even the servants and labourers will upset him easily.

                        R.K.Narayan defends delay by saying that if we do a thing hurriedly, very often we will meet failure.  But if we do the same work with a little delay, we can do it with utmost perfection.  The reason is that wisdom comes to us late.  The Indians use many strategies to avoid taking hurried decision. The very common one is that they put the responsibilities of taking the decision either on the eldest of the family or on the partners of their business who are not present there.  In official matters, the government does this by forming committees and commissions.

                        Thus R.K.Narayan interestingly argues that delay is not a quality to be despised of but a welcoming quality in every one of us.