India Turns a Gifted Republic: How many of you can lay claims to have ever received a gift for Republic Day?!
Well, that’s what happens when you marry on a day the world remembers courtesy a bearded Afghan! Wrong guess, it isn’t George Bush- he hasn’t yet started living in Afghan hills, & the beard is still growing!
Well, the rest of the criterion is that the neo-wife must be one who cannot keep a gift a secret, for the life of her! So, as the world’s second largest democracy prepared for its 51st R-Day, I was pining for lost time…rather, TimeX! The Timex watch I had bought for all of INR 675 (my savings of 2 months went into that, in 1995) had ticked its last and kicked a plastic bucket, commonly known as a dust-bin. The latter was, of course, presided over by a stern-looking wife, with no pity for the grieving husband. That left me watchless for a little while, ‘cos I refused to give my wrist to anything even remotely female & inanimate! I made it my religion to be late for events and getting home, blaming the timeless situation I found myself in.
I should have guessed from the calm exterior that my wife carried with aplomb! There had to be something bigger than what met the eye, if she condoned all my lateacts! But I had no idea what!
The Midnight Strikes: India sleepily turns over and goes to sleep, on the other side of the 50th year as a Republic. Wifey wakes me up. Anticipating some emergency, I do a Clint Eastwood sans the horse, ending up at right angles to half my body. “Happy Republic Day”, chimed she! My nasty ‘What the ..’ trailed off at the sight of a glistening tiny parcel in spous-ey hands. Well, could she be gifting me a diamond, if only as a taunt to my refusal to give her one? The logic aspect of a gift on the R-Day didn’t strike me, partly since receiving a gift often confuses the logical part of the mind. Never one famed for gentleness, the wrap was ripped off.
A watch! A Timex! A Sports model!That was enough to turn me into that rare form of my existence – a wonderful husband and human being. I thought of and delivered correctly and coherently, 2 full lines of gratitude, 1 of surprise and 1 of love, in that order. Then logic raised its head. “But why for R-Day?”. Boom!
“Kya karoon yaar, I had bought it for Valentine’s Day. But your watch is already gone. Plus, I couldn’t keep it secret any more. So..!”
If I ever could be speechless, then was it! So, on 26 Jan 2001, I got my new watch – a Timex Ironman Triathlon. I still don’t know whether the macho image I had tried to convey to my wife before I first met her had anything to do with the selection of the model, since I had never run a Triathlon anyway!
Mark of a Man: The Timex was to me what the pug was to the Hutch boy! It accompanied me everywhere. And that is a lot of miles! From the humidity of Worli, to the muddy football courts; the 44 degree heat of Delhi to the monsoons of Kannur; the routine 60 minutes in the pool to 25 metres underwater at Lakshadweep; the 1000 ft rapelling at Raigarh fort to Paragliding at 1000 m; riding on the bike to Gurgaon in Delhi winters to the AC comfort of a Ford Ikon expedition; the hospital bed to the wedding banquet, the –36 degree cold below the North Pole to the crowded heat of the Thane local at Bombay. That almost sums up the journey of my life since Jan 01, as it does the Ironman’s (No, they aren’t the same, much as I would like to think they are!). So, if ruggedness, durability and water/heat/dust/rain/wind-proofiness is what you are looking at, I already rest my case with that. For the connoisseur, this watch says it is waterproof upto 100 metres, and stays so. It has a slightly raised rim so that glass scratches are minimised. The glass is tough and has never once broken or leaked. The joints are absolutely waterproof and tightly packed.
Features:
Nightglow: At the press of a button, a green glow lights up the dial at night or in darkness. Especially useful when you want to time yourself (at dreams, of course!).
Lap Memory: Lest you think otherwise, this one refers to the on-track variety of laps, not any other! It can record and track 8 laps in its memory, not that I have ever used it. But when you let the cat out, it’s better to let it out whole!
The Usuals: Day, date, month, Analog (Sudipto, Sanjoy…chup!) & Digital display, 12/24 hour formats for time display in digital mode, alarm, stopwatch... the works are all there. As for the looks, suffices to say that a Timex Sports model is a Timex Sports model. But it goes equally well with those formals. Kind of gives you a tough-guy look, even if it is me saying so!
Battery Life: The battery runs for about 10-12 months, when used like I did. It costs Rs. 55 to replace the used ones. A full servicing costs about Rs.100, not that I ever have!
Time Loss: I read somewhere about a user unhappy with the watch losing a minute or so every 3 months. I never, frankly, had the need for such accuracy. So, I have never thought much about it. I had been out of Formula 1 by then, so that was an additional reason for it! But I don’t ever recollect having missed a train or flight (did someone say ‘dates’? I was married already, you see. Back then, I had yet another Timex!) due to watch malfunction (lucky this mal doesn’t expose backsides or assets!)
Cost: I don’t believe in asking for the cost of a gift, but I keep my eyes open when I am at a watch shop. Thus, I have found that this model, when I saw it last, cost about 1600/-.
Bole To: Bole to, I am addicted to Timex! This is my second, and I am sure that if I buy one more, it will still be a Timex. After all, humaara Time(x) hai bhai!
Why 4 Stars Wonlee?: Much as I am tempted to give it a 5-star, I won’t. That is because the buttons on the face of the watch (see video shots) tend to fall off with rough use for about 3-4 years (mine did), leaving two stubs for you to fiddle with!
But then, if you bajaosomething (I almost said ‘somebody’) so much, the least it can lose are two teeth caps, yes? But for the missing caps, the stars (not the star-tan kind of Paulose) may as well be Five.
So let’s say “5 Cheers to Timex”, eh?
Time Out, for now - even Ironman needs a rest, you see! (No fun intended)
