Our hyper-hectic and shortcut-oriented lifestyle has given rise to an ‘Instant Age’ and scores of ‘instants’ have found a place in our psyche and being. How we have become impatient to the extent of being edgy and totally intolerant of anything that cannot be instantly fixed and restored to order might perhaps get documented or rather blogged somewhere in the evolutionary history of mankind.

Today people who might have once hated the whole idea of instant coffee are ruled by many ‘instants’ and we cannot imagine living otherwise. Because today we even consume instant doodh-patti!

More than permanent long term solutions, we tend to opt for short term, quick fixes. No one waits for publishing or printing, just blog and you’re a writer in a click. Could you imagine a life without instant gourmet cuisine coming out of a box or a sachet that rebonds far flung relatives, make your mother-in-law proud of you and your husband’s heart flutter?

Instant cakes and frosting are there because Betty Crocker and Sara Lee have already taken the pains for you so why bother with cooking classes to produce a beautiful two-tiered masterpiece. Instant joshanda that could get rid of a runny nose and help impress your boss straightaway and an instant coffee sachet or a tea bag has the power to wake you up, resolve arguments and make your grandfather speak in favour of the tea blend, right out of his portrait hanging on the wall as seen in a TV commercial!

There are instant responses to your email/SMS using mobile phone devices and off late IPods; an instant fairness cream that makes you the most sought-after eligible candidate for jobs and matrimony. An array of toothpastes that could make your teeth shine so dangerously in just a few seconds that people can get distracted and walk right through a wall.

Milk in tetrapack can instantly turn your kids into superheroes, so can hand-washing soaps. Now housewives can have instant waste of time by switching on to any morning show of their choice. Stains are washed off in minutes, so what world was Monica Lewinsky living in?

There are instant matrimonial solutions offered to bachelors on TV shows with film star Meera about to make her contribution to the cause in an upcoming TV show. Now they play instant cricket tournaments like T20s and Super Sixes because who has the patience to watch and await results for five days in a row. Remember there used to a whole day for a break during a test match…bookies would go berserk with suspense!

Jobs have instant career promotions and terminations; devices that could instantly perform hair straightening to make your hair look silky smooth. UPS and generators bring instant electricity to your home. Instant sharing of information using Twitter, Facebook, Flicker or You tube; the ever present not so Breaking News flashing instantly on your TV screen, be it true or not.

You can instantly view pictures through a digital camera rather than waiting for the entire roll of 36 negatives to reach its end and sent to a photo processing lab only to find out that half of the pictures taken are either blurred or out of focus or captured your bad angle or squint.

This is the era of instant delivery of hot, ready-to-eat food from your favourite fast food chain right at your doorstep, therefore no need to stall your family’s request from pizza to prawn biryani till next week. There are quick, if not instant, Laser procedures to restore a six by six eyesight and the hair transplantation solutions that could even make Rapunzel envy you!

You could enjoy instant answers to questions about your fate by calling some fellow on TV who sits with his laptop, dishing out how planetary positions can get you admission or a job abroad or a wonderful spouse if you perform a few simple tasks like feeding pigeons a few grams of specific grain at a crucial moment in celestial time.

There are instant slimming solutions offering special diets, tablets, tea, sauna belts and juices that could trim you down to size zero from size one hundred without moving a muscle. Now you can instantly purchase exotic vacations and your daughter’s dowry using your credit card, forget interest and pay-back! There are instant hair dyes to make you look younger, banks and mobile companies offer instant customer services which once experienced, prove to be the best causes for a headache. If you have nothing to do, just call a customer service and you will keep busy pushing buttons for hours choosing and rejecting options on offer but as tricky to get to your required service as winning a game of snakes and ladders. However, it is an instant way to kill time or waste it, depending on how you want to look at it.

There is instant access to Internet using Wi-Fi devices, no more dial up and wait. Offers of instant loan sanctions and salary advances by financial institutions; instant bullish and mostly bearish trends of stock exchanges, instant connection to a mobile service and activation of your SIM; instant hike in petrol and consumables prices; instant removal of hair dandruff, along with the hair at times, especially when using a celebrity recommended shampoo.

Politicians have instant access to ‘their’ voters through telephonic speeches; instant power in your body by gulping down an energy drink so that you could jumpstart a dead car battery of any hapless damsel! And how could you overlook the insane effect that makes all the girls fall head over heels for you! Now that is instant to the extent of being insane.

— Khalid Nasir