National Geographic: Adventures in Time Page #4

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and the world was changed forever.

Genetically, all humans, no matter

what their heritage are 99.9% identical.

It is not what we are, but who we are,

what we learn, believe and create

that determines our group identity.

And that identity often determines

our relationship with time.

In many places, time seems

to have accelerated at a maddening pace.

In other societies, though time is like

an easy traveling companion,

as one moves through life

in the eternal "now".

In the highlands of Papua New Guinea,

lives a remote society with their own

understanding of time.

"For thousands of years,

this Stone Age group had been hidden

from the outside world.

As time and exposure worked their changes

on most other peoples

Hagahai culture remained more

or less the same.

A living secret deep in the highlands

of Papua New Guinea.

Possibly the last unknown group on earth."

Carol Jenkins, a medical anthropologist,

began working with the Hagahai

helping them cope with malaria

and other diseases

that threatened their very existence.

She found their concept

of time fascinating.

"Their sense of time is much more like

what people say

of the Australian aborigine time

the dreaming that is it's always the same

it goes over and over again

it's a connection

in an almost mystical sense

between the ancestors and today.

Much of human culture is anchored

in our traditions

and often, these traditions are linked

to our sense of time.

Everywhere, we commemorate rights

of passage

and shared beliefs that

mark our voyage through life...

and we celebrate them

in the language of music and dance.

Like it or not,

much of our precious time

on this planet is consumed by work.

The sheer diversity of labor

reflects the vast scale

and scope of the human experience.

On the Indian subcontinent

much work is still done by hand.

Here north of Mumbai

mostly barefoot workers disassemble

giant steel ships,

reducing them to scrap.

The work is dangerous

the rewards are meager

but to make a living they persist.

But all work in India

is not this punishing.

In sheer numbers

India has the world's largest middle class.

The country's railways are a lifeline

for all of India's one billion people

crossing not only vast distances

but bridging diverse cultures.

Over one and a half million workers

keep the trains running on schedule.

In many ways, the railway has become

the country's grand

and reliable time keeper.

"At Borivli Station fifteen men

have been meeting up for ten years.

They call themselves the '8:54 Group'

and every morning they stake out

strategic spots along the platform.

With speed and luck

they can claim a few seats that

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