Five Minutes Can Change Everything
It was just another casual night. I was chatting with a friend who’s earned the honorary title of “Cinderella from Thane” because she always vanishes before midnight. I was almost certain the next message would be her usual “Okay, I’m sleeping.”
But instead, we stumbled into a conversation so unexpectedly profound, it felt like a door opened to a whole new way of looking at time, life, and change.
The Spark: “5 Minutes Ahet Naa”
She joked, “Yeil yeil, pudhchya 5 min madhe,” and I said, “5 minta ahet naa.”
To which I added, “5 mintat tar jag badalta.”
She laughed and asked, “He kuthla jag a je 5 min madhe badalata?”
And that was it. The gateway to a flood of reflections opened.
One Second Can Be Enough
I replied:
Jag badlayla ek second pan pure.
Newton’s apple fell in one second.
Hitler must have made the decision to go to war in a second.
Someone must have caught COVID in a single second.
Someone probably fell in love in one second.
Someone else broke up in that very same time.
Because it’s true—a single second can change someone’s entire life.
The Build-Up Matters Too
But then she countered with something equally beautiful.
“To safarchand pikayla akha ek season lagto…”
And I realized she was right too.
Yes, one second can trigger change, but it’s the years of build-up that create that one powerful moment. The decision, the fall, the love, the breakthrough—it’s all made possible by what leads up to it.
Just like a butterfly doesn’t become one the moment it breaks free of the cocoon. The cocooning is just as essential.
The Realization
In that instant, we weren’t just exchanging texts—we were co-writing a philosophy. That…
Change is both sudden and gradual.
The moment is a spark, but the build-up is the firewood.
Time matters. But what you fill it with matters more.
Final Thought
Maybe the world doesn’t always change in five minutes.
But your world can.
And sometimes, a single conversation, a single reply, a single person, can become that moment.
