TIME FOR A RESOLUTION ON REST

returned from Uttarakhand when the Char Dham yatra season was coming to an end.

- ANURADHA GOYAL

The vibe there was of a home that has just bid farewell to its guests after a grand wedding and is now looking forward to some rest. Some people were going to lower altitudes for the winter, others were returning home—but everyone was ready for a much-needed rest.

Back home, newspapers were advertising the winter itineraries in Uttarakhand. This would mean more revenue and livelihood generation for the people and the state, but I wondered if those tired people really wanted this. Yes, many of them would readily take up the new opportunity. But what about their rest after long, backbreaking months of handling the peak tourist rush?

It made me think about the vanishing concept of rest from our thought process and, for that, my generation needs to take the blame. Decades ago, as young professionals, we spoiled both our bosses and our customers by working round the clock. Some of them continue to advocate long hours. For the corporate world, working long hours is something that families and societies have accepted as a way of life.

Inour childhood, we all had a holiday on Sunday and when the five-days-a-week culture came in, it brought cheer to all those chafing at the weekly toil. But by the time I was in the workforce, the work hours started quietly creeping into personal time.

Television and radio stations, too, used to take a break at midnight and there was nothing like today’s always-on content. This made all of us, those in front of screens and those behind, take rest by design. Our collective rest cycles followed our natural rhythm in sync with nature.