Time Management using Personal Digital Assistant
	I have always been a strong votary of self-help books, which the Americans seem to set great store by.  The author who has influenced me most in this regard has been Stephen Covey.  His book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and the sequel, specifically dealing with Time Management, "First Things First" have left a lasting impression on me.  Covey says managing your time is not simple as it sounds and time management is basically life management.  A PDA is an invaluable tool in both the endeavours.
	I picked up my first PDA in January 2000, during a visit to Singapore.  Use of an electronic device to manage one's time and contacts was something I had always fancied.  So, it was after careful research and a lot of web-window-shopping that I decided to go for a Palm PDA.  Not that there was any other viable option, given the prices of PDAs in general.  Anyway, ever since, I have become a convert to the tribe of electronic road-warriors, as PDA users like to fancy themselves as.  I have gone through a few models and am presently using a Handspring Visor Prism with a Visorphone attachment.
	The Prism, though an obsolescent machine now, still is a very handy unit, which fits snugly in the palm of your hand.  You can enter data into the PDA, by using a stylus and writing on the graffiti area, which is the lower part of the screen.  The screen is a 160x160 size one, resembling the screen of a laptop computer.  The Prism has basically four applications, mapped to its four buttons.  These are the Datebook, for entering appointments, Addressbook, for storing addresses, ToDo list, for keeping track of tasks to be done and Memopad, for storing textual information.
	There are primarily two major types of PDA Operating Systems.  The Palm OS has bulk of the market share.  The Pocket PC OS, backed by Microsoft, is also a serious contender now.  Palm OS PDAs are simpler and cheaper.  Pocket PCs have more powerful processor and multimedia capabilities.  They are also costlier.  Interestingly, many users consider the simplicity of Palm as an advantage when it comes to managing your Personal Information.  The real edge Palm has over the other OS is the availability of software to suit your specific needs.  The range of software solutions, which will cater to your every need, is really staggering.  Applications are available to manage your entire finances, to monitor criminal investigations and what not.  There are thousands and thousands of applications.
	The real power of a PDA lies in its ability of make your data available to you, in the form desired by you.  A PDA synchronises with the desktop computer and enables you to carry important information wherever you go.  Today, most of us, as senior police officers, are knowledge workers and our effectiveness depends on our ability to process information, take decisions and implement them through our teams.  A police officer is typically a mobile person, requiring to carry his data, wherever he goes.  The data also needs to be updated on the go.  A PDA is therefore come to become an irreplaceable tool for achieving this end.
	Covey states that the key to managing one's time is to keep all the relevant stuff together.  Whether you are entering a new address, a new appointment or a note to yourself, it should be availble at the same place i.e. your organizer, paper or electronic.  A PDA enables you to capture important data in one place, catalogue it properly and retrieve effortlessly.  Reminders of unimportant, but urgent tasks can be set as alarms in the PDA and after setting the alarm, one can unclutter the brain as far as that particular task is concerned and devote time to more important issues.
	I carry data relating to my work in my PDA.  Details of all cases under investigation in my charge are available to me in my Visor.  Whatever changes I make on the Palmtop get synchronised in the desktop and vice versa.  I carry full length books to read when I have to wait for someone/something or on the road.  I have the full text of Chapter XII of CrPC in my Palm, to consult in case of slightest doubt.  The entire civil list of my cadre and batch is accessible at the tap of the stylus.
	In conclusion, I will say that having a powerful PDA has a force-multiplier effect.  While one can always feel that one shouldnot become too dependant on an outside gadget for one's time management, the convenience and comfort of delegating the routine to the machine, in order to free the grey cells for (hopefully!) something more worthwhile, is a winning idea.