Volume 2 · The Discipline of Hours · Essay 112

FOPO

You may not know the name FOPO, but you know the thing. This page only introduces the two of you formally.

What this concept offers is a pause — one extra beat between what happens and what you do about it. Civilisation, someone said, is measured in that beat.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

The kirana shop opens at eight sharp, festival or fever. Ask the owner his secret and he will point at the shutter, not at his willpower. Systems outlast moods.

Time is the one currency the Reserve Bank does not print more of. And when you forget it — you will — the world will remind you. It is a faithful tutor.