DELAY COSTS DEARLY

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

 

DELAY COSTS DEARLY

  

"Delay costs dearly" means that when something is delayed, it can have significant negative consequences, often resulting in substantial financial loss or missed opportunities. Procrastination or not acting promptly can lead to a high price to pay later or result in uncertainty or skepticism.

 

The word ‘dearly’ inevitably forewarns you of a high cost if things are unduly postponed and done later, implying the negative impact of a delay. The word ‘cost’ refers to the negative consequences, losses, increased value and fees, and/or penalties to be paid due to the delay. A common advice is "Don’t delay. It’s getting late."

 

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. One hour today may become two tomorrow. A delay is sometimes a deemed and the deadliest form of denial.

 

There is a great saying in the judiciary, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

 

Time is precious. A serious warning comes from Benjamin Franklin who said, “You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.” The quote underscores the serious adverse ramifications of a delay. In other words, the clock cannot be put back at any cost.

 

Indecision and delays are the parents of failure. Once you deliberately or otherwise make a delay, it will cost you dearly when you attempt to do it later like in the case of the purchase of a piece of land and/or putting up construction. As long as you delay, the escalation cost will increase day by day and will create a still greater burden for you.

 

Tasks involving finance undertaken without delay will not only be cost-effective but also quality enhancer.

 

In India, we say 'शुभस्य शीघ्रम' - ‘Shubhasya Sheegram’ (do good things and auspicious deeds promptly). In the Indian context, in the olden days and even now, if only one sibling happens to be a boy among 2 or 3 girls, the practice is to invariably marry off the girls first; because Indian society always looks at unmarried women or delay occurring in the marriage of girl(s) differently and disdainfully. The family and the brother(s) thus concentrate on marrying off the girls (sisters) first. Boys will get married only thereafter. That is the practice followed in Indian households. In the process, in some cases, late marriage of boys may not be uncommon. In this age of small family norms, this should not necessarily happen. However, some boys of today are putting off their wedding saying, “I will marry only after I settle down well.” By ‘settling down well’, they mean possession of their own shelter (house or flat) and a hefty purse/bank balance.” This is meaningless because the boy can get married in time and then well attempt what he wants to achieve with the able support of sorts from the life partner. Needless to say, late marriage may throw up problems of sorts in the long run in that by the time the children grow up, the parents get much older with resultant hassles. The situation needs no over-emphasis. The lesson is - Don’t postpone anything unnecessarily. Time is the essence of life. Time lost can never be retrieved, gained back, or lived again. 

Nowadays, even girls well educated and financially empowered tend to be too choosy on accepting grooms who they want to be highly placed, inevitably entailing delay in their marriage with a suitable guy.

 

The same logic applies to the purchase of a house land, the construction of a building, and the purchase of valuable ornaments (gold and diamond). The prices are always skyrocketing and one should do it as quickly as possible, of course, depending on the purchasing capacity. The point I would like to stress is that things postponed will only cost you dearly in terms of finance with ever-rising prices.

 

In the business and commercial world also, the concept holds good. A company’s failure to launch a product on time may cost them dearly, as, due to delay, they would lose market share to their competitors. Again, missing the deadline for a project and/or the delay would later cost them dearly in terms of higher fees, penalties, escalating costs, and sometimes, loss of business itself.

 

Purchase of a land property: If your financial position permits, it is worthwhile purchasing a plot of land in the deep periphery of a city/town even if it is not presently in a developed area with facilities - namely - shops, malls, hospitals, hospitals, schools, colleges, and the like. With the explosion of population, every area is getting developed fast with satellite towns springing up and mushrooming away from but near the cities and towns in its peripheral areas. With the rapid pace of expansion of cities and towns and massive urbanization with matching infrastructure facilities taking place nowadays on a large scale, sooner or later, the cost of the land may double or even become manifold. Contrarily, if you delay the purchase, by the time the area gets developed according to your perceptions and expectations, the cost will become multifold. The investment in an immovable property will never go twaste, and, on the other hand, its value will always be on the increase day after day.

 

Here, I would like to relate a small real story. On 11^thOctober, 1943, a Japanese fighter plane bombed Madras (now Chennai) during the Second World War (1 September 1939 - 2 September 1945). The bomb landed north of the Fort St. George area, somewhere between the High Court and the Tamil Nadu Secretariat building. My late father used to say that Madras (mainly consisting of a few villages like the present day’s Harbour, High Court premises, Park Town, George Town, Chepauk, and Triplicane) was then a small town and due to the sudden bombing which was never expected or experienced earlier, people became panic. Fearing further attacks, many fled the area abandoning their properties and/or selling them for a song, and went back to their native places and settled down there. People were even afraid of living in that area. Many who dared to continue to live in that area and those who purchased the abandoned lands and/or buildings there for small prices then are now proud owners of properties worth many crores. It was unfortunate that my forefathers couldn’t afford to pay even a pittance to purchase a property there.

The observation of Elon Reeve Musk, a world-renowned businessman and the senior advisor to United States President Donald Trump, "Life is too short for long-term grudges” is noteworthy.

The following thought-provoking and inspiring quotes of Swami Vivekananda conclude this write-up:

 

Business is business, that is, you must do everything promptly; delay and shuffling won’t do.

 

Never say ‘No’, never say ‘I cannot’; for you are infinite. All the power is within you. You can do anything.

 

R.SAMPATH

27/2/2025