Thank God it's Friday!

Hello All! After a really long hiatus even by my standards I am back with a new post. Actually I read somewhere that there is a name for people like me. I mean the people who don't write a new post every other day and have these short and long breaks in between 2 posts. I think the name is Slow Bloggers :) I personally know some of these people so it feels nice that I am not alone :) But I do admire the folks who take out time and publish a new post every other day. It's really creditable that they have such enthusiasm to write something new whatever it maybe on such a regular basis and I follow some of these blogs regularly.

Coming to the current post I guess the title says it all :) 'Thank God it's Friday' is a thought which comes to every working person who has a holiday on Saturday. For some unlucky people who work six days a week it is the same thought but instead of Friday it will be Saturday and for some mechanical companies it will be Wednesday :) Whatever the day may be the feeling of relief, happiness, excitement and anticipation of the approaching holiday is the same.

I have touched upon this phenomenon many times in my previous sporadic posts. I observed it way back in early 2008 when I used to go to my current office as a Project Trainee. For me back then the 'day' was immaterial. Whatever day it maybe, a Friday, Monday or Wednesday I didn't care. The only important days were submission day(s), exam days and most of all Result Day!! But I used to observe on a weekly basis that everyone in office used to be really in good spirits (pun not intended) on each and every Friday. In the few weeks that I went for work as a Project Trainee this was my most striking observation of corporate life :D

Now that I have completed a year in the Corporate world with work and pressure increasing in a linear manner with respect to time, I have absolutely no doubt in saying that I behave completely in the same way. And I am sure that more than 90% of the people who work must be behaving in the same way. I have listed out some of my observations of behavioral patterns displayed by employees on Friday :)

Overall mood - There is a distinct difference in everyone's mood on Friday. Everyone is happier, jovial and high on morale.

Eagerness to leave early - Though nobody likes to stay back late in office on any day, on Friday everyone is over eager to leave much earlier than the standard time. Since the standard times differ I won't give a specific time :)

Refraining from scheduling late meetings - Unless absolutely necessary everyone avoids keeping Customer calls, meetings etc on Friday evening / night. Also it helps if the Customer is from Europe or Asia so he/she is also eager to leave early

Tea and TT breaks - Extended Tea breaks are taken by teams along with some breaks for TT or carrom too.

Non work related mails - Though these mails go around many times the frequency of such "Low Importance" mails increases on Friday and these mails are enjoyed even more as compared to other days

All said and done Friday is quite a fun day in office most of the times. But if you are in a situation like I was on some Friday evenings where you have to stay in late on Friday (to avoid coming on Saturday) for finishing something important, the Office can be an extremely lonely place to be in ....

P.S. Please contruibute to any other behavorial patterns which you might have observed in Office on a Friday by mentioning it in the comments :)

IS Voting == Responsible Citizen ??

I am writing this post on the day of Phase II of the General Elections in the largest democracy in the world. I have just come home after Voting for the first time in my life and there is a sense of achievement which I am feeling right now :)

The voting process for me I would say was not at all smooth. To be frank I am not an avid follower of politics. I try my best to keep abreast of all the happenings through print media, NDTV 24x7 and other knowledgeable people but if I do get an option I choose Sports over politics. But I am aware of the importance of voting and hence was keen to cast my first vote. I was awaken from my slumber by my friend on a day which was supposedly the last day for registration (though there were many like this !!) We took our documents, attested photo copies and registered ourselves. But that unfortunately was just the beginning. The EC people came to our house on a Sunday with a list but only my name from my family was absent from it.

After that I went through a host of search engines but my name was never found. I also went through a manual list where I found my parent's names but mine wasn't there. I resigned to the fact that maybe I won't be able to vote this time until my friend confirmed that my name is present. On voting day I went in with my parents but as expected my name was not in the list. However a different list of ALL the parts which was thankfully arranged alphabetically and in English :) was available where in I found my name. Though it was spelled as "Vinit" the rest of the details were correct. Also the name in devnagri was correctly spelled. I went inside, pressed the button on the EVM and came out feeling extremely happy. The only damper was that this time there was not black dot on my finger as expected but a blue line :)

In all this voting process which started with campaigns by jaagore.com, Aamir Khan's advertisements, different groups urging everyone to vote one thing which I always heard was "If you are a responsible citizen you should vote". I am completely in agreement with all this. I believe that every citizen eligible for voting should vote and excuses like "What's the use", "I don't know how to register", "Everyone is the same" are not at all valid. Especially in a city like Pune where everything is smooth and we don't face any violence as seen in other places it's a crime to give excuses. When people can vote in sensitive areas like Kashmir where their lives are in danger then we have NO right to stay at home on Election day.

However I feel that just casting your vote does not at all make one a responsible citizen. According to me there are many other duties or responsibilities or qualities which one must have and perform to be a responsible citizen. To name a few I would say following traffic rules, not throwing garbage on the streets, not spreading rumors during tense situations, cooperating with law enforcement officials, not indulging in bribing and even maintaining the secular nature of our country are some of the qualities which I see in a responsible citizen of India. If you do all this or at least try your level best for it then you have a right to admonish others for not being a responsible citizen. But if you are breaking rules and throwing garbage and thinking that pressing a button on a machine is making you a responsible citizen then think again. It will be of no use if we vote for the right person but we as an individual and a nation don't do anything to maintain the law, cleanliness and order in the country.

Now that so many people are being made aware of their duty to vote I hope that this awareness drive continues to other aspects as well. When we are telling people who are going to turn 18 or anyone else about casting vote it's important we don't neglect the other things which constitute a responsible citizen. Voting is just one of the many things. After all the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts !!