I Hate Waiting ...

I guess this is true for most people. To wait for hours to get some important work done, wait for weeks to get your application accepted, wait for months to get results from your experiments. The anxiety, the frustration ...
Unfortunately, this is true for most cases. However, sometimes you are pleasantly surprised when you expected to wait for a long time but things turn up almost instantaneously. A few days back I saw a notice that the entry to the Engineering 302 bldg would be controlled by an S-card sensor (a smart ID card for the students and staff of SNU). The department had advised us to get our S-cards back in December but I didn't bother to get it. Sometimes I can be surprisingly lazy. The notice was a real pain in the a$$ since others told me that it takes weeks even months to get the card. So I decided to apply for it right away and tried to figure out a way to take care of the situation of entering the bldg without the card. I filled out the application and went to the Doore Cutlural Center to submit it. The guy at the office had a look at my application and told me to come back after 1pm. It was around 11:30am and I tried to explain him in Korean that it was urgent and I needed to submit it right away. He looked a bit surprised and told me that it takes at least an hour to process the application! Now it was my turn to get surprised. What he was telling me earlier was that I could collect my card after 1pm. When I asked my labmates, they told me that takes at least 3 weeks to get the card. I collected my card after 2 hours. Nothing feels better than getting things done almost instantaneously.
This is however, not an isolated incident. Yesterday, when we went to Language School to join the 4th level of Korean classes, we (Dima and I) found our names absent from the list of students. So at 5:45pm, we went to the office and told that we were from the 'Samsung Program' and we wanted to join the 4th level. Normally, it takes at least a week to process the application and we were asked to sit while the lady at the counter made a phone call. After about 3 minutes, walks in a lady wearing a silver stiletto and asked our names. We wrote it down for her and she told something to the other girl. The she turned to us and said, "Room no 319, 6:30pm!" It was done ... thanks to the name Samsung!
In summer of 2007, when I went to the German consulate in Kolkata for my visa application for the summer internship, I found a long queue in front of me. My number was 47 but my name was called in after about 30 mins. As I walked to the counter, I saw other being asked a lot of questions about the purpose of their visit. I submitted the documents and waited. After a cursory look at the documents, 'Mrs Mitra' marked my application IIT with a marker and told me, "Please come between 3 and 4 to collect your visa". I thanked her and breezed out of the room as others looked on at me!
I wish life was always this simple and this quick. The good times are few and comes along rarely. I guess that's what makes it so special and pleasant!