Two Holiday Lists: How One Indian Office Calendar Fits Many Festivals — Epoche B1
MEMORANDUM To: All staff From: Administration Subject: The annual holiday calendar - two lists, and how to use them The holiday calendar circulated this week has two lists, and staff regularly confuse them. The first is the list of closed holidays, when the office is shut for everyone. The second is the list of restricted holidays, from which each of you chooses a small number — usually two — to take as your own. List A: closed holidays These are fixed. They include the three national days — Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti — together with the major festivals observed at this location. Nobody applies for them; the building is simply closed. List B: restricted holidays This list is long, and deliberately so. It carries religious and regional observances from across the country. You are not entitled to all of them. You select your own, inform your manager in advance, and take those days while the office stays open around you. Why it is built this way Because a single calendar cannot close for every festival in India without closing for most of the year, and cannot close for only some without declaring whose festivals matter. The two-list design avoids both problems. The state fixes the days everyone shares, and hands the rest of the choice to the individual. It is worth noticing what that means in an office. Your colleague's holiday and your own may fall on different days, and neither of you has to explain the choice. Administration does not ask which festival you observe, or why. Action Read both lists in the circular attached. Submit your restricted-holiday choices to your manager by the end of this month. Note that bank and court holidays follow separate state notifications and may not match ours. References Government of India, Department of Personnel and Training (2024). Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2025. Office Memorandum. New Delhi: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Government of India (1881). The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, section 25. Calcutta: Government of India (bank holidays are notified by state governments under this section).