Holidays. Festivals. Bandhs. Humans are invariably programmed to look forward to the next ‘time off’, aren’t we?
And in this age of paranoia, to paraphrase Greenday, when these days obligingly coincide to fall right before a weekend, it’s a breath of fresh air, a whoop of joy. Since 2014 was pretty much the year of the extended weekend (as Whatsapp forwards kept kindly reminding us), and 2015 has a generous amount as well, one does speculate on the possibilities these furloughs hold.
Have you ever wondered what you’d do when you’re told that the next weekend is an extended one? Wonder no more. The options are limitless.
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Living in the city with your family? Got a liberal helping of cousins around you? And a heap of family friends you’re in decently good contact with? You can do so much more with your weekends than just quality time with HBO, especially if you’re open to travel.
And especially if you’re not too hassled with college or office work. Says Jalaja Hariprasad (48), entrepreneur,
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“There’s so much I’d like to do when I get extended weekends! For starters, I prefer getting out of the house and doing something fun with family and friends. So some weekends we’ve just taken off and booked a resort in the outskirts of the city, so it’s coupled with a good drive. If it’s not possible to go on a mini vacation like that, I organize these ‘day outs’ with a group, be it cousins or friends or neighbours, and just spend the day with them doing various things, and having a wonderful time”. And of course, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could even take off for a trip beyond the city.
The lone ranger
The situation is hugely different if you’re living alone in the city, and your family is rooted elsewhere, while you’re slogging weekdays in college or office. If you think your extended weekend doesn’t hold opportunities, fret not. Manav Gami (20), a college student, says “Since I’m from Hubli, I do go home when I get the opportunity to. But there are loads of times I’ve done other things, such as take off with my classmates for a small trip, or drive down to someplace different for a getaway. In fact, once, my cousins and I actually drove down to Goa, ate lunch there, and drove back! The best part about these extended weekend getaways is that they aren’t planned, and are very impromptu”. So in essence, you could always find lots others who pretty much fall in the same weekend planning category as you, and then do something fun together.
The pause button lover
The above two categories seem to cover most holiday planners, right? Wrong. There’s the good old category most of us fall into - people who are surrounded by family and/or friends and relatives, but just don’t feel the need to move around! We all agree that holidays are a break from the tedium of ordinary life. So going by that logic, if ordinary life is tedious, then we could just sit back and spend a decidedly non-tedious life for those three or four days. Phalguni Rao (19), a college student, says “My extended weekends largely comprise waking up halfway into the day, watching movies, reading books, going on Facebook, and in general, thoroughly pampering myself with things I don’t have time for otherwise. I don’t go out unless absolutely necessary. Weekends are that break I look forward to when I’m down the week. And I really want that pause button in my life sometimes!” Sounds pretty good already, doesn’t it?
So next time an extended weekend is headed your way, you know exactly what to do.