"Time is the twine to tie our lives into parcels of years and months. Or a rubber band stretched to suit our fancy. Time can be the pretty ribbon in a little girl's hair. Or the lines in your face, stealing your youthful colour and your hair. But in the end, time is a noose around the neck, strangling slowly."
The above is extracted from the book "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. The story's so enthralling, I'm reading it for the second time.