Edit: Return to simplicity

It was my favourite wristwatch, past tense, because it is no more. Unfortunately, the maker is an unknown Chinese company, which has probably shut shop because it relied on simplicity in a complicated world. Three days ago, my six-year-old nephew, broke the watch that taught me the significance of simplicity. When my father gifted me the watch, it displayed, “in some time it will be six”. I remember, I had rubbed my eyes and looked at its face again. It just had a display screen with no hands or numbers. It was a simple timekeeper telling me what time of the day it was, roughly. I realised how futile in life is the exact time concept, something that makes us tense and serious, for no reason whatsoever. What would we lose if our watch tells us “it will be half-past-two soon”? It is ironic that this watch is not considered seriously by any horological society across the globe because, in watches, complications are sacred — Patek Phi­lippe grand complication or a Breguet classique complication are revered.
Every invention has gained complication over time. For example, the phone was invented so that we can talk; today, a cellphone has 3D, games, touch interface, TV, internet, music, camera and GPS — it is so loaded with features and applications that sometimes we forget that we actually just need to talk or send a message. To go back to simplicity, we need to become disconnected. Just the way ashrams and meditation centres do it — no TV, no mobile, no internet, no connection with the outside world. Unfortunately, just sitting and doing nothing, in Zen parlance Zazen, has become toughest thing to do today. Being simple is complicated. But people have started valuing simplicity. The move from marks to grades in our education system is a step towards that. It may be possible that in the future, if you miss your girlfriend, you would not go to Facebook or Twitter or to a mobile phone, you would just go and be with her. And when you ask for time, you should expect a candid reply, “it will be 10 soon”.