In a magnificent display of irony that could only happen in India, a clock tower in Bihar—built at a cost of ₹20-40 lakh and inaugurated with much fanfare by local politicians—stopped working less than 24 hours after its grand unveiling.
The incident perfectly captures our relationship with time in 2025 India: we throw money at impressive time-keeping structures while simultaneously running out of time ourselves.
The clock now stands frozen, much like the faces of commuters checking their phones to see if that 10-minute delivery will actually make it in 9 minutes and 47 seconds. The irony isn’t lost on us—a society obsessed with saving time while simultaneously feeling like we have none of it.
Welcome to India’s new epidemic: time poverty.
In 2025, life moves faster than Neeraj Chopra’s javelin. Swiggy promises food in 15 minutes. Blinkit delivers groceries before you can spell “convenience.” Your office Slack expects responses within seconds, making Panchayat’s Abhishek Tripathi’s government office look positively leisurely.
The math doesn’t add up. If everything takes less time, shouldn’t we have more of it?
The answer lies in how our expectations have changed. Remember when waiting 30 minutes for food delivery was normal? Now five minutes feels like an eternity. We’ve compressed time so efficiently that any delay feels catastrophic.
Like that Bihar clock tower, we’re victims of our own ambitions. We built systems to save time, but instead of enjoying the saved minutes, we’ve created a perpetual race against ourselves.
The consequences are everywhere. Office workers with food apps still skip lunch breaks. Families with robot vacuum cleaners still complain about not having enough family time. Students with instant access to information still pull all-nighters.
Perhaps what’s broken isn’t the clock—it’s our relationship with time itself.
So next time your delivery guy calls to ask for directions despite GPS, remember: sometimes, the richest people are those who can afford to waste time. Even Munna Bhai knew to stop and give jhappi.
Meanwhile in Bihar…we hope your things work from time to time.
