The long weekend is, unfortunately, for me and people like me a normal two day weekend for other people. That is the way it is. Atleast from 2006 onwards with a brief respite for me between April 2009 to March of 2011. During those years, as an Assistant Manager and HOD of my department at the office I worked at I got 2 Saturdays off each month along with the Sundays. That wasn’t so bad. Anyway, the Saturdays over there were usually quite dull and lazy and it usually involved me & my team going for long 2 hour lunches.
During the years 2002-2005 I worked in 3 different offices that each had the 2 days off routine. It felt so good to be able to get Saturdays & Sundays off; however during my tenure in the main office of Idea Kerala (2004 & 2005) I got two days off but they were on a rotation basis during the week and I usually preferred to take Mondays & Tuesday off as I liked working there on Saturdays and Sundays. I just got more things done and it was enjoyable working there. I’m ok with that as well but since then as I have mostly had Sundays off, I guess I’m used to feeling lazy and sleepy on Sunday and will usually be at home watching movies and relaxing on my bed unless I’m going out for drinks and lunch.
Since i left Firstsource Solutions back in March of 2011 it’s been 6 days working every week except for when a public holidays falls in between. In my current company, where I have been working for the past 6 months, we now have the second Saturday of every month off, which is atleast something and we all look forward to it with anticipation. This wasn’t the case throught; we got the second Saturday off in October & November but not in December. I watched as some of my colleagues made & discussed their plans for the “long weekend” and some of them asked me mine. I felt a little sad as it is supposed to be a 2 day weekend for everyone but stupid situations regarding money & profit and the culture of our nation makes it not possible to do so (pick one or the other as to why Indians works 6 days a week). I myself had no plans as I was nursing a bad cold. I have spent yesterday & today half online and half watching movies & tv shows on my computer. Sunday night sees two big games : Manchester United vs Liverpool and Arsenal vs Manchester City and so my Sunday evening & night will be spent watching them.