India is moving fast—maybe too fast.
India is always on the move, yet constantly late. As Shashi Tharoor wittily put it, “Have you ever noticed how India is a land of paradoxes? Everyone’s always in a rush, but no one’s on time!” That statement now hits harder than ever, especially in a world that’s running faster than it’s thinking.
In today’s India, speed is everything. We build quickly, ship quicker, and consume even faster. We once created timeless products. Now? We create less time products.
Take commerce, for example. We’ve sprinted from e-commerce to quick commerce. From the once-reasonable 14-day delivery window to a mind-boggling 15-minute doorstep drop-off.
It doesn’t stop there. Even rest and conversation have been sliced and rebranded for efficiency. Naps are now power naps. We don’t pitch ideas anymore, we deliver elevator pitches. Sell it in 30 seconds or lose the room. The speed of our lives has turned even the most human interactions into countdowns. The world has been chopped, trimmed, and edited to fit within the confines of speed and attention.
Entertainment has shrunk too. From 1-hour specials to 30-second reels. News is no longer read. It’s scrolled in the form of 60-word tweets. And when it comes to learning, why do a course when you can do a crash course?
Let’s rewind a little.
There was a time when India built for the long haul. When an HMT watch wasn’t just a timepiece—it was a legacy. When conversations over chai stretched into hours, and letters took days to arrive but were read slowly, lovingly, multiple times. Things took time, and that was okay. Time was part of the charm.
Somewhere along the way, quick stopped being a feature. It became the product. If it’s not fast, it’s not good. If it takes time, it’s not worth it. We are not just speeding things up—we’re redesigning life itself around urgency.
But here’s the thing: maybe this obsession with speed has a shelf life. Maybe the bubble will burst. And when it does, we might remember that not everything needs to be immediate. Some things deserve a pause. A breath. A little delay. Not out of inefficiency, but out of intention. Some things require time—relationships, ideas, craft, creativity, meaning.
In a world where everything’s sprinting, maybe the boldest thing we can do… is slow down.
Sometimes, the best things take time.
Let’s not forget how to wait.
Let’s not forget how to build things that last.
