It is only when we move outside India that we realise the significance of time zones. Johannesburg is three and a half hours behind India and by the time we wake up in the morning here, it is already almost noon back home. That is when things like phone calls must be timed right, unless we want to wake up people or, on the contrary, be woken up at unearthly hours. It is for that reason that I keep my watch on Indian Standard time just so I know what time it is in India.