T.G.I.F...

THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY/WEEKEND (For Desis in the US)

(Was written some 10 years ago in the US)

Friday is always an interesting day. Particularly if the weekend, according to the weatherman, is going to be "bright sun, blue skies and gorgeous days". The expectations show up in everyones faces right from the time they get to work. This is an attempt to portray various characters of Desis in their best Friday and the following weekend behaviour...

The first class is set of people called “trippers”: who plan on a trip. Their morning is spent on making phone calls interspersed with work. The phone calls usually are the means to collect various info like which might be the cheapest motel to stay and relative coordinates of the nearest "minimally attired" joint to that motel. In this group you find three kinds of guys - the first are the guys who plan quietly (those phone callers), the second are the overzealous guys who would like to drive all the way to New York across USA (particularly, if the fairer sex are part of the drive), just for the sake of driving and the last are the guys who are not really bothered - all they want is to go to some place so that they can bulk up their photo collection.

Then there are people who follow religiously the dictum - Friday is for fun and believe in “Constancy is the change”. Their idea of fun starts with a lunch outside as against the daily-go-home-at-12-cook-the-same-old-left-overs-and-eat-it-and-be-back-at-1PM routine. These guys have so very precisely planned their change in routine that every Friday they end up going to the same restaurant for the same “delicacies” (pardon my artistic freedom here).

The third class of people are the ones "who are sadly married". You can find them asking "whats that that is different on a Friday". The weekend eve is just another day for them. They come home for Lunch as usual, go out during the weekend just for the sake of going out and whatever they do during the weekend is to alleviate the guilt of having a spouse at home doing nothing and getting bored during weekdays...

Then there are some mavericks. A maverick is the one who doesn't really have any plans. Preferably alone, sometimes he deigns to have another in his vicinity. His only plan is to drive for about 6-7 hours, so that his friend can drive the same amount of time from 1000 miles away and both of them can meet in some remote place where English is spoken with an accent. Usually his plans include driving to middle-of-somewhere for 6 hours, missing the exits (he does not stoop down to plan to such minute details) and going round for 4 hours, waiting and meeting up with his friend for 2 hours, setup camp (2 hrs - includes searching for firewoods) and going all out not to remain sober (4 hrs), sleep for 4 hours and drive back from middle-of-somewhere in 7 hours. His return is mostly accompanied by hangover on Sunday and a latecoming to work on Monday...

An honorable mention about the final class of people - those who go to work on weekends...very little can be said about their characteristics since very little of them do this...