It’s a holi-holiday
Kussi Amma Sera was vigorously scraping coconut on Tuesday to prepare kiribath with lunu miris for breakfast to celebrate Independence Day. Thus, instead of the gathering of the trio for a ‘tea-kade-like gossip’ usually on a Thursday morning, they were meeting on Tuesday under the margosa tree – also to watch the Air Force planes fly past as part of the national celebrations, joyfully shouting, “Jayawewa”.
“Mahattaya, ada honda kamek haduwa (Sir, I made a good meal today),” she said, as I walked into the kitchen to fetch my morning cup of tea which she had prepared. “Balamu…..balamu (We’ll see),” I said with a smile and walked to the office room.
As I settled down at my computer, wondering what to write (rather early in the week as I had other work and assignments on Thursday), the landline rang. Who could that be, I wondered.
“Hello machan, how are you,” the caller said in a cheery voice. It was good-for-nothing Somey who loves a good holiday and ironically the topic of conversation that followed was holidays.
“I say… are we a nation of lotus-eaters? How can we gain ‘developed status’ if everyone is on holiday?” he asked, stumping me for a moment. “What do you mean,” I queried. “Well, this year, there are holidays, right, left and centre and chances are most of the year we would be holidaying and not working,” he said.
That reminded me of the popular hit ‘It’s a holi-holiday’ by the 1970s pop band Boney M. For those who are not familiar with this song, it goes like this:
“Hooray, hooray, it's a holi-holiday//What a world of fun for everyone, holi-holiday//Hooray, hooray, it's a holi-holiday// Sing a summer song, skip along, holi-holiday… it's a holi-holiday.”
Sri Lankans are fun-loving and love holidays like any other island nation and who wouldn’t want to take an extra day off to collect four or five days of vacation to go on a trip? There are plenty of opportunities for this.
Check this year’s calendar and you would understand what I mean. Consider this: There are three holidays at a stretch almost every month and/or four days at a stretch, if you take one day’s leave in between this stretch. I hope I am not tipping off Sri Lankans who may not have realised it and would now immediately scan the calendar. However, my focus today is on how possible for a country to develop, with so many holidays.
At a glance, I counted a total of 148 holidays including weekends and in some cases if you take a day’s leave in-between to make it four holidays in a row. This means that Sri Lankans are likely to be on holiday for more than half the year if you also add the leave entitlement (14 days annual and seven days casual, not forgetting medical leave). In most cases, the holidays (except for the statutory ones) apply only to the public sector while the private sector would be at work.
Here is how the holidays work: January10-12 (Friday to Sunday); February 1-4 (Saturday to Tuesday if you go on leave on Monday); February 21-23 (Friday-Sunday); March 7-9 (Saturday-Monday); April 4-7 (Saturday-Tuesday if you take Monday off); April 10-13 (Good Friday to Sinhala and Tamil New Year); May 1-3 (Friday-Sunday); May 7-10 (ThursdaySunday); May 23-25 (Saturday-Monday); June 5-7 (FridaySunday); August 1-3 (Saturday-Monday); August 29-September 1 (Saturday-Tuesday if you take Monday off); September 1-4 (Thursday-Sunday if you take leave on Friday); October 1-4 (Thursday to Sunday if you take Friday off); October 30-November 1 (Friday to Sunday); December 25-29 (5 days – Friday to Tuesday if you take Monday off).
Whew! What a year of holidays!
While discussing with Somey on whether or not we are a nation of lotus-eaters, my attention momentarily wanders to the margosa tree where the trio including Mabel Rasthiyadu and Serapina are eating Kussi Amma Sera’s lunu miris and kiribath (there is a plateful on my computer table too and it tastes delicious), while scanning the skies for more Air Force planes.
“Me dinavala Sri Lankawe gatalu godak thiyenawa (There are many issues in Sri Lanka these days),” said Serapina. “Eh monawada (Like what)?” asked Mabel Rasthiyadu.
“Maasa keepayakata udadi Ranjan Ramanayakage durakathana samvada patigatha kara. Eeta passe corona vairasaya. Than, hitapu Sri Lankika guvan sevaye pradhana vidhayaka niladhari saha eyage birinda allas vanchavaka patalila (A few months ago it was Ranjan Ramanayake’s tapes of telephone conversations followed by the coronavirus and now the scandal where the former SriLankan Airlines CEO and his wife have been implicated in a bribery scandal),” replied Serapina.
“Sri Lankawe kisi viteka andura mohotak ne (Never a dull moment in Sri Lanka),” laughed Kussi Amma Sera, with a mouthful of kiribath.
Getting back to the conversation with Somey, I said: “I tend to agree that there are too many holidays and opportunities for long weekends. We need to assess how we can reach full development status if half the year we are at home or holidaying elsewhere.”
“Much as I like holidays, this is a serious issue and needs a proper social discourse on how we need to develop, while also enjoying holidays but not too many,” he said.
I agreed with him on the need to initiate a forum and discussion on developing Sri Lanka in an environment when half the year we are on holiday. This discourse, he said, should be driven by civil society and not the politicians who are normally driven by their needs and not the country’s needs.
One silver lining from the large number of holidays is that at least for half the year there would be less traffic jams in the city of Colombo!
Jokes apart, if Sri Lankans are serious about holidays (and I know most fun-loving people would be upset by any attempt to reduce holidays), there needs to be some discussion on different ways of contributing to the nation’s growth..….maybe even while on holiday. Any ideas from my readers?
Ending the conversation, Somey says, “Let’s talk again on another holiday”. I close my computer just as Kussi Amma Sera walks into the room with another plate of lunu miris and kiribath. “Kohomada mage kiribath (How is my kiribath)?” she asks. “Niyamai (Great),” I said.