Today is the first Sunday ever that banks in Mumbai have been asked to stay open but employees grudged the decision to put customer interest before their vacation plans.

In any case, commercial transactions were minimal and if most clients, who were supposed to benefit from their `sacrifice', stayed home why did they have to be dragged out in the first place?

Banks in the central business district were deserted, devoid of the chaotic weekday buzz. In contrast, establishments in residential areas registered some transactions, though most employees Express Newsline spoke to felt it was a luxury they could ill-afford.

Citibank at Nariman Point was unusually quiet but Maharajh, a South African tourist, took the opportunity to do her bankingthere as did a few stragglers in the vicinity. The situation was much the same in other banks across South Mumbai.

Over-the-counter services at the Bank of India's head office at Fountain were skeletal and the staff, who had turned up in full strength, idled the hours away.

Says S V Salgaonkar, chief manager (operations), ``This was only to be expected.'' But the benign sentiment was not shared by many. Most employees, across cadres, felt resentful and singled out especially those residing in the distant suburbs.

At Ballard Estate, a host of banks with branches there were virtually the only establishments `working' today. S R Patil, an officer with the Bank of India, questions the rational of the RBI's directive. ``When all government offices remained closed for five days, doesn't that affect public services,'' he asks indignantly. Commercial transactions were minimal and staffers from faraway Kalyan and Dombivli cursed as they trooped in. Senior officers felt much the same. Though transactions at theSBI's Matunga branch registered 50 per cent of normal activity, the chief manager was almost sulking. But M R Pai, honoraray secretary, All India Bank Depositers' Association, feels twiddling thumbs could have been put to better use. It was a ``boon for bank employees'' he argues, as it provided an ideal opportunity to clear the backlog of work. ``There will be no pressure on Monday,'' he remarks.

Though a couple of other bank managers agreed, they did so only in principle. Many said they would have preferred to stay home instead of clearing their out-trays. Malini Thadani, manager (public affairs), Hongkong Bank, who found ample time to do her personal banking today, says it is time for a debate. Referring to the next block of bank holidays in October, she says, ``Holidays need to be rationalised.'' Pai agrees. ``India lacks a strong work culture which is only destroyed by a spate of holidays,'' he says. The banking community should compare itself to a housewife who works 365 days of the year withoutcomplaining, he suggests. Not that he is opposed to holidays, he explains, but a series of them makes banks ``beneficiaries of unauthourised holding of funds.'' ``Funds are blocked and are called floating funds... the banks do not have to pay interest on them,'' Pai says.

While it took an RBI directive to get the entire banking workforce moving on a Sunday, a small bank at Bhandup, called Punjab and Maharashtra Co-op Bank Ltd, needed no prodding. The bank remained open on April 9, between 10 and 1 pm while all its eight branches in the city also volunteered to remain open from 8 am to 8 pm at the weekend. And if the majority of employees in Mumbai carped their way through Sunday, it was business as usual for Central Bank's Dadar branch, which keeps its office open every Sunday!