A Conversation With Time

Acclaimed author and career diplomat VIKAS SWARUP introspects on how the passing of time over the past 30 years has defined some of the most important aspects of his life.

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Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had just watched a Hollywood blockbuster on intergalactic travel. Or maybe because I had consumed one too many of my favourite drink. But when he materialised inside the room, it seemed as natural as a cat slinking in through a window.

“Hello there,” he said. In his white toga, with a flowing white beard and beady eyes sunk deep in his weathered face, he looked like an Old Testament prophet.

“Have we met before?” I enquired politely. He smiled enigmatically. “About 30 years ago. But since then you’ve always been slightly ahead of me.” I shook my head. “I don’t remember it.”

“Well, you know what they say, age moves in one direction, memory in another.”

His eyes surveyed the room like a seasoned detective’s.

“It seems life’s been good to you.”

“Can’t complain,” I shrugged.

“Last time I saw you, you were thinking of becoming a lawyer.”

“Thank god, I changed my mind,” I replied. “It would have been all too easy to enter the family profession. But I didn’t want to make a career lying for my clients.”

“So you chose to lie for your country,” he laughed. “Is that why you became a diplomat?”

“I wanted to see the world.”

“Why not a doctor, or an engineer?”