From Holi to National Mosquito Day, Monojit Lahiri explores the explosion of quirky celebration days and asks whether Gen Z’s playful rituals reveal a fearless, joyful philosophy of living every moment.  

Life is meant to be lived to the fullest—live fast, die young, embracing passion and adventure, and the thrill of the unexpected. Check out the philosophy of life, celebrating every moment and making a bold lifestyle statement. From the excitement of chasing dreams to the unapologetic joy of indulging in life’s pleasures, I explore why fearless living isn’t about counting years but making every experience unforgettable. Whether it’s about making an impact, seizing the day, or simply enjoying the banquet of life, this philosophy resonates with thrill seekers who dare to live on their own terms.

Every Excuse Is Worth Celebrating

Celebrating life comes naturally to the human race—any genuine or manufactured excuse to cut loose and freak out. Holi, Diwali, Christmas, Pujas, Dussehra, Onam, and Pongal (along with all the zillion other festival days) come with the territory, along with birthdays, Bhai Dooj, Raksha Bandhan, and anniversaries.

Now, the new-age kid’s latest invention is “the day-we-first-met” day.

Oldies may have been perplexed, amused, or irritated by these exercises and dramabaazi, but they could well be headed for the ICU once they are swamped by the tsunami of special days dreamt up to keep the excitement and buzz ticking in our otherwise boring, dull, tension-filled, and stress-driven lives.

Romance, Bromance And Modern Rituals

Forget Valentine’s Day—for lovers, there’s now a National Romance Day (Aug 11) as well as a National Bromance Day (Aug 14) to celebrate guy-bonding without… ahem… the other stuff.

Quick on the heels of this pyaar-mohabbat is National Kiss & Make Up Day (Aug 25), officially allowing dumbos to go down on their knees, beg forgiveness, and swear never to repeat all the ghastly stuff.

Chances are, after that sublime and weepy make-up, it will be time for some heavy-duty romancing and coochie-cooing, after which—can a leopard change its spots?—problems will strike again. Sure enough, it’s time to celebrate National Blame Someone Day (Aug 13). Once that is sorted out after several rounds of discussions, tears, and hysteria, the guy can sweetly invite his companion to celebrate National Make Up Your Mind Day (Dec 31) to end the year on a decisive note. If that falls flat, no bother—there is always the opportunity to celebrate National Panic Day (March 9). Once they recognize just how foolishly they have been behaving by letting childishness and ego drive their relationship, in an embarrassingly halting, self-conscious fashion, they can turn to National Awkward Moments Day (March 18)!

  

The Delightfully Bizarre Calendar

Phew! That’s enough for the interaction between the sexes. But hey, there are piles of other days too, and the folks who invented them must have had a lot of time on their hands and been both mischievous and inventive.

So, we have celebratory days saluting National Mosquito Day (July 23), National Toilet Day (Nov 19), National Working Naked Day (Feb 1), National Read in the Bathtub Day (Feb 9), National Underwear Day (Aug 5), National Don’t Go to Work Unless It’s Fun Day (April 3), and National Eat What You Want Day (May 11). Bizarre and weird, huh?

“Not really,” says New York-based drama student and Bollywood junkie Juhi Walia. She believes that all “these special days are really cool, giving a faceless date and day a special personality and spin, allowing us to relate to it in whichever way we wish to.”

Mumbai-based lawyer Girish Shah concurs. He admits that his parents’ generation finds these days weird: “They can’t understand what the hell these days signify and mean. My uncle went ballistic when he heard that abroad there was actually a National Toilet Day and National Working Naked Day! Yeh saale phirang pagal hai? Pagal khana mein band karna chahiye! (These bloody foreigners are mad. They should be locked up in a mental asylum.) Hey, c’mon, I think they are fun. Don’t go nanga (naked) to work if you don’t want to, but chill yaar. Follow National Underwear Day if you’re the shy type!”

Between Fun And Utter Madness

Journalist Dolly Puri laughs. The Delhi-based young lady loves the “absurdity, wackiness, quirky, zany, madcap, bindas colour that it imparts to faceless days. National Mosquito Day? Saluting the lowly machhar (mosquito)! Kitna bada dil hai, na? Kamaal ke log hai! (What a big heart, no? Amazing people) who thought it up.”

Marketing Executive Kunal Sen, however, is disgusted by these “stupidly corny days! It’s the spasmodic working of unbalanced minds, for chrissake! National Don’t Go to Work Unless It’s Fun Day—are we supposed to take it seriously?”

Housewife Kavita Rastogi agrees. “Pata nahin, anaab-shanaab (Don’t know, just nonsense), anything jo dimag me aata hai, ghussa dete hai (whatever comes to mind, they push it in) to describe a day! National Panic Day? National Eat What You Want Day? They’ve lost it!”

A Generation That Celebrates Everything

Fact is, we live in a cool, informal, and let-it-all-hang-out era. Nothing is sacrosanct, and irreverence towards buttoned-down conventions and established norms is the new popular mantra. These special days jack up the fun moments of our complex lives and add a dose of zaniness to amuse, irritate, and sometimes shock. So, go-with-the-flow day next?!

What do Gen Z and Gen Alpha have to say?