Skip to main content

Shan's perfect Monday

The following post was inspired by the frequently asked question: how was your Sunday?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


My friend Shan works at the weekend. He gets two days off -- Monday and Thursday -- in a week. It has been like this for the past 10 years.

He likes the current arrangement and would not have it any other way. There would be an amused look on his face when people asked him about his Sunday.

"I work on Sunday," he would say.

The response was entirely predictable: "Really! How sad. I never work on Sunday."

Those who regard Saturday and Sunday as days of rest can never understand how doctors, nurses, journalists, waitresses and musicians, among others, work very long hours everyday including over the weekend.

Oh, that's a pity, they say. These unfortunate souls have missed out on the pleasures that create the perfect break.

Shan disagrees.

He says that Monday is his perfect Sunday.

He wakes up early, goes for a walk, starts the day with a breakfast of local coffee and toasted bread doused in soft boiled eggs (picture), mucks about with his other half and cooks dinner for his family.

He does not think that he is missing out on all the fun just because he does these activities on Monday.

Journalists can relate to that.

As a junior reporter I used to work on Saturday and Sunday and took my two-day break in the week.

I, like Shan, created my own ideal of the perfect Sunday either on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I did not feel a pang of envy at the thought of my friends who had Sunday off.

When it was my turn to take a break on Sunday it did not seem particularly special.

The important thing is to have at least one work-free day.

Times have changed since Grandma was young and it is difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of change.

Haven't we heard of some people getting out of the rat race and adopting a lifestyle change that embraces the simple pleasures, such as reading, walking, cycling and parent-child bonding. These are things that we do on our days off and vacations.

In the end, what it all boils down to is the quality of life, or the lack of it.

A perfect Sunday or Monday helps us to forget at least for a while about our demanding bosses and impossible deadlines.

There is also the matter of looking good and the effort we have to put in to stay young for as long as we can.

No wonder we are stressed out, we have been punishing ourselves in the week.

We need at least one day in a week to let loose.

Comments

Popular Posts

A spot of rural tranquillity in Ipoh

Your nerves are frayed and you need a dose of pleasingly rustic ambience without having to leave the city. There is such a spot for you, if you are in Ipoh. All you need to do is head for a block of flats called Kinta Heights in Pekan Lama, Ipoh, Perak, which is next to the Kinta River, one of the main branches of the Perak River. Unbelievable, as it may seem, there are several nasi kandar outlets and sundry shops in the vicinity, set in the greenery, with a view and a walking path. I suggest that you have lunch at Ramli Nasi Kandar and after that, take a very short walk to the river bank for your rural retreat. You might be motivated to spend 10 minutes or more in total silence and tranquillity. This is the place I go to again and again. Ramli Nasi Kandar is next to the sundry shop A short bridge to the river bank  You will feel irritated by people putting litter on the ground but I refuse to allow that to distract me. There is a 'Do not litter' notice her

Rediscovering the traditional Malaysian Indian kitchen

I love this artwork (acrylic on canvas) by Jayashree Ramasamy @Jay, who has captured the mood of the traditional Malaysian Indian kitchen. Jay recalls her grandmother preparing meals for the family in a room which was equipped with ancestral cooking utensils and that was the inspiration for this painting. For more of Jay's creations head for the National Art Gallery where 'The Story Telling' exhibition is now being held (April 14 to May 15, 2011).  'The Story Telling' is a group exhibition showcasing the creations of four emerging artists including Jay from the Symbols Art Club . The other three artists are Kathiravan Subramaniam, Rohini Indran and Mohana Kumara Velu @ Mona Kv. Each work of art is a story that the artist tells about his or her personal experiences and observations of daily life. The launch this afternoon was in conjunction with the Tamil New Year today. 'Food is Served' by Kathiravan Subramaniam. The rationale: 'We may have diff

In the waiting room

People are always waiting for something. They could be waiting for the train, an opportunity, promises to be fulfilled or the return of a loved one. But "what does waiting mean in our lives and what is life without waiting?" That question was posed by Danny Castillones Sillada in his article "What is Life without Waiting?" (The Metaphysics of Waiting). The passing of the old year demands another round of gloomy introspection and Sillada's article came at the right time, given the value of waiting in our lives. "Waiting," he explains, is "an emotional and mental state, which is preconditioned to anticipate someone or something to arrive at a particular time and place". Sillada tells us that there are two types of waiting: empirical and metaphysical. The empirical form of waiting is "where the certainty of the waited and the occurrence of event are tangibly expected to happen within a particular time and place of the waite