Dream of spending the afternoon with The Godfather....

The idea of a weekend sounds wonderfully nourishing. It is the time to catch up on sleep, books and DVDs piled up, school-friends you were supposed to call two weeks back but never did. It is the time to get the henna done and also replenish the soul.

Or is it? There seems to be a lot of evidence to the contrary. Weekends are not so fun any more. In fact, sometimes they are positively vicious. We tend to pack so much into the two last days of the week (supposedly as a respite from the mundaneness of the week) that we end up being harassed more than we are on the weekdays. Please tell us if this is not your average family weekend.

9am to 11am: Washing, cleaning

Saturday morning (if you are spared an important weekend meeting at work) is for washing and cleaning. Your laundry bag, or more likely, any available flat surface in your bedroom, such as the settee, chairs, even tables, or both the laundry bag and the flat surfaces, have been growing the whole week — you have been dumping used clothes throughout the week everywhere. You can’t ignore them any longer. Staring at that heap of dirty clothes can be enough of a nightmare. So, you walk up to the washing machine. Or at least organise the washing, which, too, drains energy.

Get stuck cleaning a mountainous mess.

“I have to wash all my clothes on Saturday, otherwise I would not have anything to wear for the rest of next week,” says Nivedita Chakraborty, a 36-year-old media professional. Once washing has been taken care of, attention needs to be paid to ironing as well. Says 25-year-old Suparna Das, a Google AdWords representative based in Hyderabad: “Saturday morning for me means washing piles of clothes and getting them ironed. Either way it’s a big headache”.

The cupboards have been lying in wait for you for the whole week — another dumping ground of clothes. As have the screen of dirt on the computer, the toilet floor that needs scrubbing and books that need to be returned to the library. “I rarely get a chance to look at my house during the week as I am too tied up with my office work. So I have to devote my weekend to tidying my house,” says Moumita Choudhury, a 25-year-old trainee co-ordinator with Frankfinn.

11am to 1pm: Cooking

That’s just the beginning. Next, the Grilled Peanut Chicken, in recipe form, is lined up for you for the afternoon. You learnt it from your colleague this week and recklessly promised your family you would try it out. Oh, why did you! In this case, it’s more likely that you are a woman. Says Suparna: “I spend a lot of time every Saturday morning preparing delicacies for the weekend and if time permits, I try to get something ready for the week as well. If I am lucky, I have people to help me. There was a time when I loved to cook.”

1.00pm to 3.30 pm: Taking a bath, setting the table, eating lunch, clearing the table

3.30pm to 4.30 pm: Plonking down on the sofa, remaining there

4.30pm to 5pm: Making tea, resolving not to stress out

5pm to 8.30pm: Movie time

There are tickets booked at the nearest multiplex for Chak De! India, evening show.

9.00pm to 10.30pm: Dinner

End up being burned by Aag...

KFC is where the family must dine every Saturday. But on a Saturday, the wait is half-an-hour long. Dinner ends at 10.30, with children’s indecision about whether to have Chicken Strips or the Original Recipe, then another round of French Fries, then ice cream. Back home, there’s the DVD of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag waiting that you have picked up with much effort — just to see how bad it is.

Morning

You try to take out some time for yourself. According to Mrinmoyee Sinha, a 35-year-old executive: “I try to finish most of my chores by Saturday so that I can relax on Sunday. Things keep piling up. I have to go the bank, to the library and shopping as well as I don’t get time during the week.” But it doesn’t always work. There’s too much left-over work from Saturday: paying your mobile bills, banking, shopping for vegetables, grocery, the weekly visit to the department store — and there, the long queue of trolleys at the counter.

Afternoon

If you are lucky, this is friends’ hour. Sunday afternoon is for a drink and adda. You really unwind, with perhaps a hangover to follow. Which is okay. But if you are not meeting friends, Sunday is for relatives. Says Moumita: “Since I got married, our relatives expect us to pay a visit to them during the weekend. This becomes too much for me as I am off only on Sundays. I have to compromise on my time with my husband.”

If you stay in a different city, you are expected to bond with your friends and relatives during the weekend. “My relatives make it a point to come to Hyderabad just because I stay here and want me to take them around the city. For them it’s a holiday, while for me it’s sacrificing my weekends despite working hard during the week,” rues Suparna.

Evening

While you are visiting your parents, or cousin, or grandparent, your child will remember that he has to finish a project on Indian Leaders of the Freedom Struggle, tonight. Or you may spend the evening with your children’s friends. Gone are the days when kids spent most of their weekends in front of the TV watching cartoons or allowed parents to plan their weekend for them. Today’s kids plan their own weekends and it’s never the same every week. It’s either a movie, a visit to the gaming station or a day out with friends.

Says Dola Saha, a 36-year-old teacher and mother of two daughters: “I often have to entertain my children’s friends as well. They are not just content to come to my place and play. A movie isn’t fun enough for them. They expect us to take them out on a fun trip.”

when all you want is to jive the evening away.

For 38-year-old media professional Indira Kanjilal, weekends are when she catches up with her kids, their activities and studies. “Even if I wish to be on my own, I cannot with two girls at my heels. I need to help them with their homework, projects, Net surfing and so on.”

Being self-employed really helps, it seems. “I work from home and that gives me scope to adjust my schedule accordingly, but even then there’s a lot of stuff happening on Saturdays and Sundays as I am associated with an NGO,” says 35-year old Malini Mukherjee, state co-ordinator with Intel Teach Programme and mother of two-year-old Ujaan.

Weekend over. You have not been able to visit the beauty parlour. The pile of unwatched DVDs and unread books remains untouched. It’s Monday tomorrow.

With such weekends, who needs weekdays?

An ideal weekend

• Late night party at a friend’s place with lovely conversation, great-looking people, great drinks and no hangover
• Working out in the gym in peace
• Adda with friends
• No call or even a message from boss
• Sleeping till 11am, followed by a late brunch, a feel-good movie and a cool drink in a lounge bar
• Visit to the beauty parlour or the spa for a pamper package
• Watching Jim Carrey movies back to back
• Watching a 1983 World Cup match on TV
• No promotional phone call while watching old Friends episodes
• Reading Pride and Prejudice or Gone with the Wind or The Godfather
• Going for a swim
• Listening to Abba

(What is the thing you like least about your weekend? Tell t2@abpmail.com)