The irrational fear of Friday the 13th is termed Friggatriskaidekaphobic and it combines a fear of Fridays with the perception that number 13 is a unlucky number.
Now an ex-Indian Air Force officer has developed a calendar that does away with 'Friday the 13th'!
"In my concept 13th is never a Friday because my calendar starts on a Monday. What I am trying to do is to introduce the date from solstice day which falls on a Friday, so on the new calendar the next day could be a Monday.
"Otherwise in the usual calendar it is continuing so two and a half days get adjusted automatically. In my calculations I have said that another two and a half days need to be deleted. This format started on Monday will never have 13th as a Friday on the calendar," says Brij Bhushan Vij who claims his work has also got an entry into the Limca Book of Records in 1994.
Vij also asserts that his calendar will help all those born on the leap day of February 29 to cut a cake every year.
"I say keep the current Gregorian calendar without any changes. What I have done is, I have removed July 31 from the calendar and introduced it in the month of February as February 29. As far as divided by four is concerned for a leap year, it now gets shifted to a leap day between June 30 and July 1. People who had never enjoyed their birthday on February 29 will enjoy it now," says Vij.
The former air force officer, who has now moved to the United States, has introduced a new concept of calculation for the formation of calendar which he calls as "decimalisation of minutes and hours."
"I keep the 24 hour day, I don't disturb it. I keep the seven days a week format, I don't disturb it. I also keep the year as such. The modification here is that the hour remains the same; the minutes get converted into hundred decimalised minutes and hundred decimalised seconds. So over all the hours remain the same, you just make more use of the values by decimalising minutes and seconds," says Vij.
The calendar enthusiast says that he has been pursuing his idea of the calendar from India till the US. However, he still waits for recognition.
"I have moved my idea right through every corner of India. My idea was put as a question in the Parliament when it was when Jagjivan Ram was Defence Minister. My idea has been published many times but people have not caught up to it.
"After I went to US my idea was thrown open to US Metric Association and has been in discussion with the Calendar-L Group since 2002. I don't know if they will ever recognize my work. Every innovator dies without recognition but my work is there and they all are aware of it," says Vij.
The modification of the calendar began as a part of discussion among friends but Vij says he took that discussion quite seriously.
"I was an air force officer and in the officers' bar mess we used to discuss varied topics. Once during that discussion, this topic on modification of calendar was raised. Someone in that group had heard of World Calendar Association. So after that discussion everyone forgot but in my free time I started working on it and slowly I got modifications. People who generally attempt to do this are either astrologers or mathematicians but I am neither," says Vij with a laugh.
Vij claims his calendar is not hard to understand and has got scientific calculations but acceptance of the system may take time.
"Earlier I worked on a metric calendar. I started my attempt to innovate the calendar from 1970. Since then I have not stopped and it is now almost 45 years now and I am still working on ways to make it more acceptable to people. My calculations are based on scientific values and will also fit well with the current astrological calculations," claims Vij.
