Ten instances showing my life @hell

1. Twice in the last couple of weeks, I have forgotten the lane to my house and compare this with the fact that I can guide the driver blindfolded about the route from the apartment to the client factory which is a cool 100 kms away.
2. Every working day when I am not the client’s place I carry my bag full of a week’s clothes and provision; never know when actually I might have to hit the road and the hotel room.
3. I don’t need the hotel menu card or the list of extension numbers to place my breakfast order.
4. When I reach the hotel, the waiter usually tells me, “Sir, regular wala room main bhej doon” ( a pint beer, 2 boiled eggs and green salad)
5. A client from the corporate office accompanied me to my current client location and the canteen boy wrote in the slip, ”Sandeep + 1”
6. My cell phone bill shows one page of normal outgoing vs 5 pages of roaming
7. The hotel laundry boy never bothers (nor do I) if my clothes don’t come on time on a Friday, “Koi baat nahin sir, next week le lijiyega”
8. I miss out on life so much that on Friday nights even when I reach Bandra around 10-11pm after a 3 hour drive, I am game to go to F-17.
9. Couple of times I woke up in the middle of the night apparently reading a mail from the client in the sleep with the subject line “Project Progress Update”
10. And this one takes the top prize: One Friday night (at my apartment) I woke up from my sleep wondering how come the hotel room appears so different.

Top 10 reasons why ur drink doesnt taste so good nowadys!!!

Parameter	Then- (MBA Days)	Now- (Bby Days)
Drink	Fosters/Kingfisher	Fosters/Kingfisher
Tastes Like	Heineken/Corona	Foster/Kingfisher…what else??
In the company of	Friends, starts from 2-3, goes up-to 10-15	Occasionally friends (starts with 3-4, ends with 1-2), acquaintances, clients, and colleagues (yawn….)
Presence of Females (with you, duffer)	Non Existent	Non Existent and more so eying hot females around makes u feel all the more shitty.
Location	Open air (outside mess/terrace) beneath starry skies	Cramped pubs/apartments
Frequency of drinking	Mathematically, frequency cannot exist in a continuous function	Strictly weekends or if the client is not a pain in the wrong place, occasionally on weekdays
Topic of discussion	Outlandish bizarre conversation	Crib (boss, bonus, colleagues, job, etc etc) OR ELSE Aur batao..kya chal raha hai?
Typical response to “Chal, ek ek marte hain”	Any time boss	Sorry yaar: Biwi ghar pe hai Bahut Kaam hai Kal office jaldi jaana hai Enthu nahin hai Itni dur…kaun aayega
Fear of Hangover/Getting up next day on time	R u kidding??.Refer the point above	Always
Reason for drinking	Reason..huh!!!!	Stress (Weekdays)/Relief (Weekend)

Stress

“Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans”

This was said by some legendary singer, I think Lennon. And that precisely is life. You make a hell lot of plans, you have stars in your eyes, you dream and then you wake up to find your dreams shattered. In a way dreams are a great thing; they transcend all boundaries of reality and limitations and take you to situations you would want to be in. But dreams are meant to be shattered and with these shattering come stress. Stress can be really painful. Most of us hide it beneath the façade of normalcy but when things get out of hand, it does manifest itself in insomnia, drug/alcohol abuse, inability to handle relationships and at extreme stages, depression.

I think mild depression which is a very pertinent effect of stress exists for a lot of us. How many of us can really boost of a good night long sleep. How many of us can boost of not sinking in the couch/bed immediately after returning from a day at work. How many of us can boost of not wanting a drink to ease us off after a typical day at work. How many of us can boost of being calm and serene inside. How many!!!

Stress need not come from such big issues only. Even in our everyday life, there are so many things that happen to us, that make us really stressed out. For instance, phone lines coming busy, traffic jams, internet not connecting, some mistakes in some presentations before a meeting, car getting delayed etc. It happens, small inconsequential things but they create a lot of stress.

For most of us, however the most important drivers of stress is work- nasty boss, pain in the ass client, non co-operative admin people, office politics, salary, bonuses, incompetent people, tough questions etc, all these bring in real tension at work. And given that most of us spend anything around 60 hours at work; these can really take a toll on you. The problem gets compounded for most of us when we equate our life with our careers, with absolutely no regard to our overall well being and joi-de-vivre. I remember once a doctor told me ,”Remember son, it is very important to switch on and off”. I mean that’s so true but we never realize it and by the time we do, in most of the cases, the harm is already done.

The above stated causes of stress are important but what takes the podium is the stress due to personal problems-seeing your close one wait for death or struggle with deadly diseases, broken relationships, lack of companionship or even worse bad relationships, helplessness etc. These are really sad situations to be in. Among these as well, I think one point that deserves special mention is helplessness, cause it’s so omnipresent in most other cases. I have seen a friend, see his father gradually move into the jaws of death and there was nothing he could do about it; that is helplessness. I have seen myself, desperately try to save a relationship for quite some time but the vibes weren’t just there, there was little I could do. That is helplessness. I don’t think there are many situations worse than that of being helpless. There is a lot you want to do and there is a shit you can do. God save that case. And it happens. Remember the lines from Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven….Time can bring you down, time can bend you knees, time can bend your heart, have you begging please…begging please…