There are two kinds of people that I know of. The first sort asks everyone: ‘How do you spend your weekend?’ and goes around bumbling into a web of plans that others have made and I call him one who is brain-dead. This person usually asks his friends, relatives, distant relatives, and sometimes even strangers if they have suggestions on how to spend a weekend. These days this fellow has the additional option of browsing the internet and looking at lists that hop from volunteering to avoiding chores and those that suggest disconnecting from the virtual world or encourage you to pursue a passion or simply say in a deadpan voice to either exercise to go for a vacation. There are thousands of people on the social media ready with such similar looking lists that will pretend to look different simply because one will suggest a weekend trip to Neemrana and another will mention the same place but add that ‘though it is some distance but you know, driving can be such a pleasure’.
Most people fall in the segment that I’ve just talked about.
‘The rest?’ you might ask.
‘Ah! The rest are actually a minority and do what pleases them.’
‘Isn’t this rather undemocratic? I mean, taking one’s spouse and kids and parents to a library if that is what pleases you?’ you might persist.
‘You’re right,’ I’ll say, ‘whenever the family is involved, this fellow discusses things as this is what pleases him most, I guess. Or he convinces others. Simple, you see. Most decisions are as simple as this.’
As most readers fall in the first category, they are obviously waiting to read what I do on weekends… or even after work. You know what, I entertain myself.
Yes, I entertain myself… both during and after work. And no, I’m not a clown in a circus nor do I produce a comedy show for the television. I guess it is a bit easier for me to entertain myself as I am a writer. So when I write, I am at work and am being entertained on both the physical as well as subliminal planes. When I’m not working I am still being entertained as I am allowing every kind of stimulus to enter my system and help creative impulses there. So for me work hours and beyond work hours are essentially the same. Weekdays and weekends merge and sing together… or entertain, if that is what sounds appropriate.
Quite obviously my scheme of things might not work with others. Let’s talk about, for instance, a urologist… this fellow spends his weekdays handling (sometimes mishandling) genitals and peers happily through endoscopes that show him a world that doesn’t extend much beyond shit or piss, in a layman’s lingo which doesn’t sound much as entertainment. He will obviously look for weekends that are different. Now if this fellow were to find ‘active surveillance of endoscopic advances’ something similar to reading a thriller or believes that talking about ‘eating mushrooms helps the prostrate smile’ is as romantic as holding hands during a candle-light dinner, he definitely needs a professional consultant to suggest him varying entertaining ways on spending his free time.
The keyword is entertainment. Entertainment is a rollicking diversion that allows the mind to bounce back and be ready to get rolling during weekdays. Life gets on well between rollicking and rolling, so to say.
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Arvind Passey
18 September 2019
