Kashmiri weekend

Can we define the line between work and life one day?

Arjimand Hussain Talib

Can we marvel of a ‘Kashmiri weekend’? Pardon my ignorance, as far as I know, there isn’t something like that as of now. Even if it is practiced in isolation, or exists as an idea, it isn’t there as a culture.

As modern urban lifestyles slowly and steadily breach into Kashmiris’ traditional ways of living, it is not a bad idea to address this question.

Encyclopedias tell you that ‘workweek’ and ‘weekend’ are those complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest respectively.

Every culture celebrates work and leisure in its own unique ways. Religious and cultural traditions have generally determined the ways humans work and rest in their living days.

From Africa’s once-secluded tribes to the modernizing societies of the Orient, modern day urban lifestyles are changing the traditional ways of work and leisure at a good pace. Western societies, on the other hand, are generally known to have well-established work-leisure cultures. And that is one reason they are known to be the most productive on this planet.

It is not that every society in the world has well defined work and leisure norms. In modern societies where work and leisure are both taken very seriously, clearly demarcated lines for work and life are quite necessary. Such lines are necessary for us to be optimally productive. For enjoying ourselves. And, obviously, for ensuring a healthy body and mind.

Modern lifestyles are beset with problems. Now if you are living in a conflict zone like Kashmir – heavily militarized, marred by day-to-day uncertainties, devoid of traffic signals to simplify your street chaos and places where you could go unhindered and breathe freely - it is obviously worse.

Different cultures and countries have their own different ways to balance work and life.

Muslim countries like Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Sudan etc. mark Friday-Saturday as weekend off days. They work on Sundays. Afghanistan and Iran have only Friday as the weekend off day, which means they work six days a week.

There are Muslim countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey which observe a Saturday-Sunday weekend.

Israel’s weekend follows mostly its religious tradition. Its workweek begins on Sunday and ends on Thursday or Friday at noon. Its work day comprises of eight hours per day.

Russia also works from Monday to Friday. So it takes Saturday and Sunday off. Each of its work day comprise of eight hours.

In the US working week also comprises of Monday to Friday, eight hours a day. Some retail and other businesses work on Saturdays as well.

In the UK, the normal business working week is from Monday to Friday (35 to 40 hours depending on a worker’s contract). But its retail shops follow different systems.

In countries such as Australia and Germany the weekend is considered Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, with the workweek beginning on Monday.

In India people follow varied and mixed models of workweek and weekend. Some enterprises, including central government offices, work for five days a week. Others work for five and a half days.

Kashmir also has a mixed system. When disturbances overwhelm our work and personal spaces, there is no system at all. We have some notorieties as well.

Some time back, an Indian colleague while working with me on a SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis for the staff of an international organisation in Kashmir concluded that Kashmiris don’t deserve a long weekend. He saw our general productivity of the workweek too low.

More than a line between workweek and weekend, what is more important to us is what we do in these two times.

Western and other advances societies are not known to mix their work and personal spaces. At the time of work they just work, meaning nothing else is welcome to distract. When it is time to spend on oneself, work is switched off completely.

In Kashmir, generally we don’t mind mixing the two lives. The end result is that most people end up doing no justice with either of the two. Kashmir also has a notorious distinction of enjoying a large number of official and unofficial holidays. That affects our work quality too. We are not known to take long yearend holidays and then get back to work fresh.

But does all this mean we don’t deserve a long weekend?

Most of our government services are known for their excessive life and work shortage issues. But there are exceptions as well. In our government I think only the civil secretariat takes a two-day weekend off. Is that one way of conveying who actually works harder during the workweek?

Private sector works more in work mode, leaving too little scope for life. Most journalists work 24*7. People in the banking sector are said to be the most bored lot - they work worth their salaries and yet don’t have enough time for themselves.
People in medical profession, especially those with strenuous working hours, deserve a weekend too. Some teachers and academics also deserve weekends. There are many others too, like lawyers.

In this debate, the big question that looms relates to our Productivity Quotient – or call it PQ. Is our workweek that productive to make us deserve two-day weekends?
For long management theorists have argued that if we give more time to workers to rest, rewind and rejuvenate they will be more productive during their work days. But then there are those who argue that Kashmiris generally have hell of a time of all these, yet their productivity is abysmal.

If we work productively and with honesty through the workweek, postponing some life-needs which can be done at the weekend, we deserve a two-day weekend. That would demand demarcating our workweek and weekend clearly.

In such a case employers will find a strong case for a Kashmiri weekend. A weekend used for what it is meant for – personal and family rejuvenation, reflection and preparation for another productive week ahead. A weekend when official phones and laptops are in off mode.

Can we dream like that?

The columnist can be e-mailed at Arjimand@greaterkashmir.com