Diwali leave

" Hey are you working on Diwali?" A colleague, Neha texted me.

Neha and I worked in different teams. At first I thought she was curious about my Diwali plan but it turned out to be anything but curiosity.

"Yes I am working. I cannot take a day of because the audit is in the next week," I replied.

I was on my way to office and within a few minutes I was going to meet her. After reaching office I met Neha. She looked visibly upset.

"I am not getting a leave for Diwali. I wanted to go home. I am so upset," she said. I empathized with her. People who were staying away from Mumbai always had this issue. Not everyone could be granted with leaves for Diwali. This time it was Neha's turn.

" It is so good for you that you do not have to worry about taking leaves and celebrating the festival with your family. You can do it right away at your home," she said angrily as if I had declined her leave.

I did not want to fight but I had to defend my own position, " I get to celebrate festivals with my family. But also being a localite I never get leaves for any festivals. I am always told to come to the office and celebrate after the office hours. So how is that fair with me?" I retaliated.

By this time Neha had realised that arguing with me was not valid. Hence she decided to let go off that topic.

Sometime later Neha's manager, Anil called me. While discussing the plan of action for the upcoming audit he decided to end the discussion with a question, "you are not taking a leave for Diwali, are you?" I declined and said that I would be in the office for all days. Though I was not happy with the decision.

" Thank you for not being difficult. Neha had been chewing my patience for a very long time. She takes leaves for every festival. She got leaves for Ganapati. For Navratri she was gone for more than 2 weeks. Now she wanted two weeks off for Diwali. I cannot give her so many leaves. That is unfair to the whole team. I hope you understand," Anil explained.

I was shocked to hear that. Neha had painted a picture that she never gets any leaves for the festivals yet the real situation was different. Just one time her leave was declined and she was making a scene about it as if she never got any leaves. She even tried to paint me a villain in her story too, though it had nothing to do with me. I could not believe how Neha was trying to set me up for her own battles. At that time I felt that I was too naive to understand her games.

I agreed that leaves for festivals should be granted. However that does not mean only one person gets the advantage over other. When that advantage is taken away the same person should not cry foul.