Week-end means beginning?

Ever wonder how sailors on a ship celebrate the day off in a week. It might seem odd to be the one not working when everyone else on the ship is. And yet there are those who just pull up a deck chair, recline on it and read a book while taking in the sea and the breeze.

They might even be listening to their own music to perpetuate the illusion that the ship is the home away from home. Sailors at least have the consolation that they do not get seasick even if they are homesick! Those sailors who are having the same day off could even presumably get into group activities like playing games, eating together or watching “Jaws”, followed by “Jaws 2” and then “Jaws 3” or even “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World” if they want to get away from the sea!

One reason why coffee cafes have become so popular all over the world and including India is that they are perceived as the third place outside home and school/college for the student or the house and office for the working youth. Getting away from it all for a day or a portion there of need not just be to a pure physical space.

No, I am not referring to virtual reality. Decades ago, when there was only one real world, one of the favorite anecdotes in the railway colony (inside the VISL company….where my father used to work) there used to be this steam-engine-driver for whom lunch was such a significant occasion that he would turn his back on the furnace, spread out his knife, fork and plate on a wooden box, seat himself on a folding chair and dine while watching the landscape whiz past! Maybe engine-drivers spend the weekly off as passengers on the train!

Those who are not sailors or engine-drivers have the advantage of spending the weekly off at home where they are separated by time and place from the work spot. Those who are into unstructured weekends could enjoy the option of getting up when they want to, taking a walk if they feel like or just closing their eyes and having a siesta if sleep beckons. Weekly offs during the monsoon could be spent looking out of the window at the darkening clouds and tuning in to the rhythm of the falling rain!

Those who are into structured weekends always have the option of playing Frisbee, freaking out with friends, blind dating or running whichever marathon is scheduled for the day. All marathons in India are run on Sundays and usually in the period between winter and summer when it is neither too hot nor too cold to overtake or be overtaken by other runners. It is only the defense personnel who are trained to run in all types of weather.

Years ago, when I used to live in my native place, as and when it started raining in the late evening, we used to play Hockey and as a practice session would appear on the streets, running in synchronized formation. So much so that, each time it poured late in the evening, I would remember the golden days even if the FM at home was playing “Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi voh barsaat ki raat” on my weekly off!