The days of the week

Another product of my non-productive curiosity is the reason for the names of the days of the week. I mean I can understand that Sunday is probably Sun's day and Monday is probably Moon's day as is Saturday Saturn's day. But, where do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday come from?

All these four days are named of the Germanic Gods. Thanks to the recent spate of myth-based movies, people seem rather familiar with Thor and Loki at least. Well! Tuesday is named after Tiu (or Tyr) the Germanic God of war. Wednesday is Woden's day (Woden is Odin) named after the Germanic king of Gods. Thor is, of course, the God for whom Thursday - Thor's day - is named. Friday is Freya's day - the Venus-equivalent in Germanic lore.

There is almost identity in the planets after which the days are named in India as well. Sunday is named after the Sun; Monday after the moon and Tuesday is based on Mars in India as well - as is Friday named after Venus and Saturday after Saturn. The Germanic lore differentiates between the King of Gods (Odin) and the Thunderer (Thor) - so, it could be assumed that Woden is Mercury and Thor is Jupiter which would be identical to Indian names for those days. At best, these two days have been inter-changed.

By the way, I knew of all this even when the Internet was not even a blip on the horizon so I owe nothing to Google for this information. In fact, there is a whole lot of interesting words for which the roots are in myth, which I explored in an earlier post - Etymology and Mythology.

For example why is January January or May May? That, as school teachers are wont to say, is beyond the scope of the current syllabus!

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013

A seven day week?

All through school I have been remarkable for my lack of curiosity. If education is the process of stimulating the curiosity of the student, I qualify among the most uneducated people that has been the misfortune of any school to turn out. Yet, I am periodically afflicted by curiosity about the most absurd of things.

Why is it that a week has seven days? In a world remarkable for people finding almost any flimsy excuse to violently disagree about anything, why is there such a unanimous acceptance since eons about this idea of a seven-day week? It is not even as though we are born with seven fingers making it easy to count up to seven and no more - else we would have adopted base seven math instead of the base ten math that we do use.

Perhaps it is because we are all lunatics - insofar as we all started off following the lunar month of 28 days. If you wanted to break down this number to smaller manageable proportions you had a choice of 2, 4, 7 and 14. So, unless you wished to spend five minutes to count back to some point and say, "13 days back" instead of "About two weeks back" in a jiffy, you had the choice of

1. Fourteen 2 day weeks in the month.

2. Two 14 day weeks in the month.

3. Seven 4 day weeks in the month.

4. Four 7 day weeks in the month.

The first choice, of course, must have been quite popular with the workers. With one day off per week, they would only have to work half the time. The problem, of course, would be with people who needed two days off per week. These people would have starved to death, perched on a tree with fruit hanging in front of their noses, because they would have to wait for a working day that would never come in order to do the job of picking the fruit and eating it.

The second choice would have been the employers' favorite. It is well-known that the employers of yore were wildly upset about night - and the need for sleep - coming to the working classes as much as it did to them. A fourteen day week with just one day for Church would have been just the ticket.

If they could not get that ideal 2-day week, a 4-day week would have been all right for the workers. It is the sad tale of the world that what suits one does not suit the other and the employers were quite put out by the idea of getting work done only 75% of the available time at best.

Thus, as in everything else in the world, a 7-day week was probably the compromise that left everyone moderately unhappy.

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013

Sweet and Sour

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 41; the forty-first edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "SWEET AND SOUR"

Nita was smiling as she exited her boss' room along with her colleague Vinay.

"I don't understand you, Nita. Up to now he has been praising your work and you came out poker-faced. Today he rubbishes your work and you seem happy"

"Now I know that his praise all this while was real"

Vinay looked at her incredulously. Nita said nothing more. How could she explain that it was only the squeeze of lemon that made it possible to relish sugared water?

You get both sweet and sour in any relationship. It is the sour that makes it possible to enjoy the sweet.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Participation Count: 13

Save this sinner

So this is what death was all about? Standing in front of a white-clad radiant being, I was wondering what would come next.

"You shall now be judged and sent to Heaven or Hell based on how you fare on the Seven deadly sins"

"Here! Hey! Wait a minute. I am Hindu and I do not think I am covered under these statutes"

The being morphed into a dark god bearing a mace sitting on an immense buffalo.

"Let us get on with the judgment"

"So, no Seven deadly sins, right?"

"Wrong! Now for the first sin - Wrath!"

"No way! I am a placid sort of chap. Ask anyone"

"Oh! So what was that diatribe about some comment on..."

"Say! Listen Buster! What is this? That nincompoop had the gall to criticize my writing. Which red-blooded.."

"Wrath!" said the being with finality and I spluttered to a silence.

"Next - Gluttony. Remember the time you sneaked the sweet dish from your neighbor?"

" Come on dude! I was hungry."

"After 10 tandoori rotis and half a kilo of biryani?" said the being in disbelief.

"What can I say? I have a good appetite", I said modestly.

"Gluttony!" 

"Next! Sloth"

"Hey come on! Can't a chap even get his forty winks without you getting on his case?"

"Who was it who slept twenty-six straight hours and regretted waking up because his hunger would not let him sleep longer?"

"Oh! Alright! You would think that a chap who does nothing is doing no damage but what do I know? That's a sin too!"

"Next - Greed!"

"Here! Hey! I never was greedy. Never went grubbing for money, never.."

"Who was it that fought to get hold of a book, which he never did read, rather than cede it to his friend who desperately wanted to read it?'

"Uh! Chief! What's this? I mean Greed - for this? Not fair"

"Greed!" he said with finality.

"Pride!"

"Everyone knows I am an humble chap. Just ask.."

"Who went about waxing eloquent about the idiocy of someone else's criticism of his writing?"

"Hey! Man! You already covered it under wrath"

"That shows Pride too!"

"Envy!"

"Ah! Now I suppose you will say that I have been green-eyed whenever I saw someone getting more readers than me"

"Bingo" said the being with relish.

"Lust!"

"Hang on a minute! You cannot mean that. You really mean even Lust is a sin?"

"Yes! What do you have to say?"

"Next Sin please"

"You plead guilty?"

"If guilty is what you choose to call it. Just get on with it"

"We are through with the Seven deadly sins. You are guilty of all and are sentenced to Hell. However..."

I looked up in hope.

"There is an unfortunate hitch. We designed Heaven and Hell assuming that a certain proportion would land in Heaven. You people almost invariably deserve only Hell so there is a lack of accommodation there. Till such time as the renovations are carried out and additional imps recruited, you shall be temporarily lodged in Heaven."

Great! If they planned renovations like roads are planned in India, they will never get ahead of the inflow. I could be permanently in Heaven!

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013