Munir Niazi said, “I am always late”.
But the capitalists, industrialists, shopkeepers and traders of the today’s world wanted to correct the poet's “mistake”.
They introduced us to a new term — “ASAP: As Soon As Possible.”
And they took it so far that today, even a 3 or 4 old child is sent to school , at an age when the only language he truly understands is love, affection, playfulness and smiles.
We force his playful mind to become a logical mind before its time, snatching away his games to teach him math—not the kind that connects him to the distance between the sun and the earth, but the kind that prepares him to be a shopkeeper or a manager who can serve industrial (read capitalist) needs.
When the Industrial Age began and management sciences were founded, people like Frederick Taylor introduced Time and Motion Studies—studying how long it takes for a man to lift an object from the right and place it on the left.
Every second was to be measured, squeezed nd converted into profit on the balance sheet.
How about we change this ASAP to “As Slow As Possible”?
Just as Ray Bradbury showed in his novel “Fahrenheit 451”, a dystopian society in which driving slowly was forbidden. People were fined for it.
Someone asked, “Why can’t I drive slowly?”
The answer was:
“If you drive slowly, you will notice that the pink line running alongside you isn’t a line — it’s a fflower And once you realize that, you will fall in love with that flower, get lost in it, and you’ll no longer be an efficient or productive worker for society.”
That’s the fear — that slowness leads to awareness, and awareness takes you away from productivity.
That’s why, in earlier times, trains were linked with romanticism.
In paintings, poetry, and novels — trains appeared as a symbol of journey and reflection.
You could see the world outside, absorb it and reach your destination — slowly, beautifully, as slow as possible.
As the Sufis (Sufism is a mystical and philosophical approach in South Asia) say,
“Tham tham ke turo nera”, translated as, “Walk slowly, my friend, walk slowly.”
Because the one who rushes cannot see.
If I take you on a bullet train, what will you see outside at 800 km per hour?
Nothing.
So, it’s ironic — we are living through all this.
Even T.S. Eliot criticized this in The Waste Land, repeating the haunting line: “Hurry up, please. It’s time.”
But the Japanese found a beautiful cure for this speed.
In their tea ceremony, preparing tea is treated as a spiritual act — almost like worship.
In contrast, our tea is made “as soon as possible,” not “as slow as possible.”
But tea takes time, to boil, to brew, to develop its soul.
And in that slow act, one can talk, share stories, lighten sorrows, and let thoughts ripen.
This Japanese tea ritual stands completely opposite to our fast-food culture—where you drive up, pay at one window, and by the next, your meal is ready.
The waiting time—where once people discussed politics, shared stories, recited poetry—is gone.
Fast food steals from us the stories, the pauses, the moments of intimacy.
So yes, we may have reached our destinations faster, but we have lost the journey.
If you travel by bullet train, what will you see?
What will you write poetry about?
Only chaos, colors flying by so fast that nothing makes sense.
That’s why many romantic poets and painters loved trains, they captured that in-between space where the world moved slowly enough to be felt.
Today, major brands use “Just-in-Time” systems, where the sale of one item immediately triggers the production of another, eliminating the need for storage. Efficiency has reached a point where even waiting has become waste.
Maybe it's time we say, look at the tea. See how it teaches patience. How allows us to talk, to heal, to remember old sorrows, to reconnect. Now, no one even has time for that. Maybe the time has come to replace “As Soon As Possible” with “As Slow As Possible”. Maybe it’s time to discover a moment that makes one say, “Was this within me all along?”
............
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STOPI am replacing tea with kawa slowly. I enjoyed tea for a long time, and it's hard to leave it.
But I think kawa of daal cheeni and adhrak is way better for metabolism and health.
About those other parts, I also think traveling teaches us a lot. Personally, my self-care, awareness, and reading the room improved a lot when I traveled.
In November last year, I traveled and stayed in a village for 2 months, and it seems I grew mentally and physically a lot. Now I know how to take better care of my body and mind.
Also, Api, I completed a 33-page novel.
You can be its early reader before the launch on Amazon Kindle.
Same old love story plot, but 4 more are half done, so my novelist journey is happening as we speak.
Reminds me, let's grow our HP as slow as possible but with consistency.
!discovery
!PAKX
Indeed, Kahwa is the bestest thing one can give to the body. Glad to know that, you are taking good care of yourself 🤞🏻. And, village life, with any doubt, teaches us a lot, one gets to learn things outside of this socially constructed module.
Secondly, can you share the link to me, I would love to read it, if it's not that much expensive 🤭. Otherwise, I will buy it next month, because I am already full with my inventory for this week.
Peace brother 🕊
I can send u on discord in dm
Free pdf link. I don't have plans to charge hivers for it. I mentioned cause I want proof readers. It's in my diary and i used google lens to copy my text to digital version. I check it but I need more proof readers to match if dairy images and digital version r correct. I wrote in clear and clean writing on paper with lines gap so u can understand my writing easily.
Yeah sure, would love to read it. Gracious😇!