Attention holidaymakers: You have seven long weekends this year

With public holidays sprinkled around weekends, you can plan seven short vacations this year

Welcome to a new year that will give you around 25 public holidays, counting the two that fall on Sundays. The holiday calendar seems to be a near-repeat of the year 2008, and if you plan ahead, you can take seven long weekends read short vacations by opting for a day off in between.

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“There is a repeat of the 2008 pattern in 2015. Diwali, Nagpanchami and Ganpati festivals have shifted 20 days ahead from the year 2014, due to Adhik Maas (an extra month as per the Marathi calendar),” said Jayraj Salga-onkar, cofounder of Kalnirnay, one of the country’s most-selling almanacs.

There are around five public holidays on Friday Dhulivandan, Good Friday, Maharashtra Day, Gandhi Jayanti and Christmas. Another five fall on Saturday - Gudi Padwa, Ram Navami, Eid, Independence Day and Muharram.

If people have the weekend off, they can enjoy three-day weekends, what with Republic Day and Buddha Purnima falling on Monday. If you take a leave on April 4, May 2 and August 17, you could enjoy three four-day weekends.

Taking the day off from work on October 23, and November 13-14 will give you five-day weekends, as Diwali is due then. Bunking work on December 26 — though we aren’t encouraging it — will also again give you a four-day holiday. Only two public holidays Eid-e-Milad and Anant Chaturdashi fall on Sunday.

“There are a lot of opportunities for big weekends this year, around seven if one plans well,” said D K Soman, astronomer and almanac maker. “There are some misconceptions like Makar Sankranti always falls on January 14, but this year it is on January 15.

The biggest event this year is the Maha Kumbh in Nashik from July 14, 2015 to August 11, 2016. Moreover, marriage dates are spread over the entire year except the months of July, August, September and October,” said Soman, adding that there are two lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses in 2015.

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