No day off!

If Anita Bindu has a morning shift on the day of Dashain and she has not had time to get the Tika at home, she puts on the Tika by herself at her office. A Nepali newsreader at Nepal Television, she gets no days off, even on Dashain. And hence, to look their part on screen, sometimes you can find her and her colleagues putting on Tika by themselves before they go live. The irony is that she must look like she has celebrated Dashain the traditional way, even when she gets no time to do so.

For twelve years, Anita has had to coordinate the celebrations of festivals with work timings. Other TV programs can be recorded, but news has to be delivered fresh every time. Anita has regular shifts on all public holidays, though she can get another day off in its stead. But for her work on Dashain, she gets no extra holidays. And even though she is paid extra for it, it does have its drawbacks.

“It certainly feel sad to be away from family at this time, but once you are at work giving people the information they need, you forget these things,” she shares her experience.

She also enjoys a silent Kathmandu at this time, which is very different from its usual hectic, noisy self.

Since media is one of these sectors where people get days off on rotation, the festival that you celebrate one year may not be in your fate the next. The medical sector is another such one which does not have the luxury of a relaxed festival season.

Dr Samir Lama has been a resident at the emergency center of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, for three years. In these years, he has not had the luxury of drinking and partying with his family members on the day of Tika.

“We are the ones who treat those who come in for drunk driving,” he laughs, “so we cannot go around drinking on that day.” Even when other departments like Outpatient Wards are closed, emergency doctors are on their duty, and hence Dr Lama misses out on the best parts of the festivals.

For Dr Lama, this is no more than what he bargained for when he got into the profession, and he has learnt to put duty before his other priorities.

“Some private hospitals even close down on these days, transferring or referring their in-patients to other centers,” he said, “but if you work in a hospital, it makes sense that you provide at least basic services all the year round.”

And Dr Lama abides by his opinion despite the fact that residents like him don’t get extra holidays for working during Dashain or other public holidays.

On days of major festivals like Dashami or Bhai Tika, Dr. Lama’s workload is considerably reduced, because unless it’s a real emergency, nobody plans to visit a hospital during Dashain.

The same is the case with the service sectors, which see much fewer customers than on other days. The Prahari Kalyan Petrol Pump has recently started operating 24 hours, and they get lesser customers than usual during the ten-day festival.

But the pump still stays open during Dashain. A team of six persons works for 24 hours (they sleep on site because they have few customers at night), but on the day of Tika, they take turns so that everyone can celebrate the festival.

“We’re the police, and we’re used to living a disciplined life,” said Dilli Singh Pande, in-charge of the pump, when questioned about the discomforts of such an arrangement.

With an increasingly consumerist lifestyle, there are many other service-oriented organizations that open during Dashain. The staffs in these organizations adjust with their duties even without a policeman’s emphasis on discipline. Shankar Nepal, duty officer at QFX Cinemas, shares that the theater is open on all days except the Dashami.

When Shankar first started working, he could not go home to Kavre to celebrate Dashain. It was initially hard for him to adjust because his family of course wanted him around to share the spirit of the season. But now with occasional trips back home, he has learnt to adjust to the situation.

Meanwhile, there are some organizations that get even more footfalls than usual in the festival season. The supermarket Bhatbhateni, open everyday except Dashami, is one of them. Bishan KC, floor in-charge of the Bhatbahteni branch, explains that the days just before the festival are the busiest for them. They do send some staff on leave, and those who work on holidays are paid extra.

The Dairy Development Corporation is another such establishment where the demand for products actually increases during festivals, since there is no such thing as enough milk and ghee during festivals. Ram Chandra Silwal, who mans the counter of DDC at Lainchour with seven teammates in his shift, shares that he has not been able to go home to Sindhupalchok to celebrate Dashain for quite a few years.

Silwal’s wife, a teacher, gets plenty of leave during Dashain and constantly urges him to make time for family during festivals.

“But more often than not, I’m busy worrying about how I can get the vehicle to get to work rather than about how to get home to Sindhupalchok,” explains Silwal. But being a government institution, Silwal is compensated with a full month’s home leave which he can take at any other time of the year, apart from the ‘bonus’ pay during the festival.

While the rest of us are enjoying the festival upon us, there are many people who have to bargain for a few hours off to spend with their families on holidays. These are just a few examples, while many others like the Traffic Police and nurses quietly work during the holidays to make our lives easier. Lack of transportation in the capital during Dashain is a common refrain for these people since there are fewer public vehicles, and taxis charge exorbitant ‘festival’ fares.

Every year they try to coordinate time to put on Tika at the exact Sait, or the most auspicious moment of the day. Sometimes they succeed, and mostly they don’t. And while some get compensated with extra pay and leave, some don’t. Most importantly, they have families to answer to, and leaving them behind on Dashain is not a pleasant feeling at all. But in the words of Dilli Singh Pande, they are wedded to their duties, because “they focus on pleasing others rather than themselves.”

Published in Republica on September 26