Thank God it's Friday ???

 TGIFridays bill board was an acronym for the phrase Thank God It is Friday. I saw it for the first time in my life in a swanky mall in Lower Parel Mumbai. My curiosity was aroused enough to ask a question to the owner what was so special about Friday to merit a special thank you to the almighty God. So going to first principles and history I did my research and was surprised to know that TGI Fridays chain of restaurant started in 1965 and it stood for Thank Goodness its Friday. As a phrase Thank God its Friday was a movie in 1978 and depicted a story about characters who generally looked forward to weekend of leisure and literally decadence after a week of miserable work and drudgery. 

The question that comes to my mind is why has majority of humanity with all the progress come to this state of wanting and literally craving for extreme indulgence come Friday evening? 

The concept of 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week work was introduced by the Ford Factory in 1926 as a reaction to very long work hours of work prevalent in those days. This invariably led to decreased efficiency and discontentment rather than increased productivity. The Management labour equation was one of power asymmetry and exploitation. Be it Industrial Revolution of the West or Landlord labour relationship in agrarian societies, the problem was the same. Modern civilization created factories of mass production in urban centres. This in turn led to migration of men from the villages to cities. The poor living conditions led to loneliness and the lack of presence of family support system meant that Friday night became  a release day. Pubs, brothels and gambling dens provided an easy escape to the worker. The problem is that while most felt that with time and progress along with labour reform brought about by revolution, legislation or even voluntary action by enlightened management things will change but this did not happen.

Without delving on the situation in the world, Mumbai the city of textile mills and manufacturing industry in the sixties and seventies had transformed to a service industry hub. Even so this change made no difference to the the problem of toxic work force and release on Friday. Living in the fast lane and a culture of toxic competitiveness led to a similar situation and the TGIF culture remained and became as prevalent as before. 

The reason for this is what I term the herd instinct. This stems from the situation that human beings in this age are full of intelligence but bereft of intellect. We take birth with a relatively clean slate but with some inborn traits probably based on our past. These are called “Vasanas” and according to the karmas of past life man is born with some inborn talents or preponderance towards a nature. Science may ask for evidence and say that karmas and past life is myth. I want to simply say that if we are born we will die and even as we are made of the same elements of nature we cannot explain why one becomes a thinker, the other a doer, one loves music the other dislikes the same. One is an extrovert the other an introvert. If we as individuals and our parents had strong intellect we would not follow the herd and live mundane lives of drudgery and do what society dictates. Intellect helps us to swim against the tide and make choices. 

Today, we are made to live by our parents as they desire and many parents force their children into a mundane education and profession of their choice rather than allowing the children to follow their dreams and choose things they love. In such cases work becomes opposite of swadharma and instead of experiencing peace and joy one experiences agitation and sorrow. This is the state of majority of clerks, bank officials, mill workers and so many others. So is it any wonder that they look forward to Friday or Saturday. 

Now the question I expect is that if we are trapped in this situation, do we remain there or choose our real vocation in life? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Is it easy? The answer is no. I will only share my trajectory in life and explain why I am not looking forward to Friday as for me Friday, Saturday and Sunday are just like any other day. I was born to privilege second child of parents who were middle class. My dad an average lawyer, a clever person with a passion for reading gave up a career of comfort as a district judge in Gujarat to settle in Mumbai so that his children my elder sister and myself got a high quality education. My mother is an intelligent lady who had an unfulfilled dream to become a doctor. Both parents worked hard but to go beyond the mundane they showed entrepreneurial qualities to diversify into business earnings by becoming school trip tour conductors, canteen operators and later pioneers in the field of cable television. I was a dreamer and a quiet introvert who loved to imagine things and write about them at times. Being among the top students in my school class was not tough and I was never a rote learner. I was ever curious and ready to learn new things. I was educated in Don Bosco High School, Matunga where there was an emphasis on all round development and therefore I enjoyed my studies and played sport, was an active boy scout and read books besides school curriculum. When I was in 7th Grade we were given vocational guidance and an aptitude test. By that time my mother in my formative years was seeking to fulfill her desire to become a doctor through me and mentally I was getting myself ready for the same. But the aptitude test suggested otherwise, I was advised to join the arts stream and pursue a career in social service. The second option was to join mass communication and become a journalist. Maybe as an afterthought the vocational guidance teacher told me that I could be a doctor, giving relief to me and especially my mother. In 1977, taking the Arts stream was for girls and low performing students and not for top ranking students. Against, my Swadharma I joined the Science stream and ended up getting a seat for MBBS stream in the Grant Medical College and JJ group of Hospitals. Gradually I started liking what I learnt. As I started my clinical postings I enjoyed seeing patients and the human story behind the disease and their suffering and the fortitude with which humans fought disease made me feel that maybe this was my swadharma after all. Later, I chose Orthopedics not because I liked it but because circumstances and my marks in surgery were better than medicine which I liked. Besides, there was a myth that Orthopedic surgery required less finesse and fine dissection skills which I was not good at. I was inspired by my teachers who set high ethical standards and decided to make them role models. This led to a situation where I had less patients and therefore my skills remained average. In the age of hyperspecialization I did have the resources or the numbers to specialize. I was lucky that I had a job which gave a minimum fixed income and patients who believed and trusted me. They knew that I would be honest and not do any harm. 

As the years rolled by after a lot of introspection I decided to change tack by training myself to become a Hospital Administrator. I joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences and trained myself for the job. Over the last 7 years my work as head of Masina Hospital, the oldest private charitable hospital has given me more satisfaction than my long career as an Orthopedic Surgeon. I still get the satisfaction of a happy cured patient but working for and reviving a hospital which is truly caring and charitable makes me feel that I have found my true vocation and my Swadharma. It has not always been a smooth journey but the relentless effort and the experience of having the support of my Trustees has given me immense satisfaction and happiness. 

So in conclusion each one has a story and each one has to make choices to reach a level of work satisfaction where the work we do is enjoyable and gives us peace and true happiness. At such a stage we will not look forward to Friday but be ready and energetic for Monday. Even if we are not lucky like I was, Vedanata gives us a formula of divinising all the work we do by doing it with single pointed concentration without worry of the past and anxiety of the future result. This happens often but not always so Vedanta advises us to be consistent in this process of selfless dedicated work offered to God. The third important cog for this is cooperation with our colleagues and working for the team and the institute rather than the Self. Last but not the least find a higher purpose in life.

I know that this has been a personal post but I am only sharing it so that more of us can become our own leaders and take charge of our own destiny and find our Swadharma. That way we will be grateful for everyday and not fritter our energies on passing pleasures of Friday. 

Vispi Jokhi