A doctor's night duty is usually 24-36 hrs or more. So, coffee is an essential part of my diet. I was having my regular coffee after my night duty at this small shop beside the Hospital, when I noticed a guy speeding past the shop on his bike.
The bike screeched to a halt a few feet from me. The Guy got down, bought cigarettes, lit one and vanished on his bike. The only thing I could notice was the ID tag of a software corporate he had around the neck of the blue tee shirt he was wearing. The corporate was housed in a huge SEZ a few km from my hospital.
It could've been the tee shirt or the stress from last night's duty at the hospital, I recalled my days after my tenth class.
"Don't be a Fool, Abho. You are talented, but engineering will propel you into a financially satisfying life. Medicine will stress you out. You will have to learn for thrice the number of years as that in engineering, and then work for much less salaries until you gain experience. Think properly before you decide." said my Grandpa, gifting me a blue tee shirt for topping my school in ICSE exams.
It was when i had spilled my coffee over my new white shirt and stethoscope, that I came back from my day-dreaming. (Apparently, hot coffee and introspection don't go really well together!)
How I wish I had listened to his words.
My life is full of stress.
Stress about duties in the hospital, stress about the health of my patients, stress about the hundreds of obligatory calls to "come , see" a patient known to my relatives (though the guy is receiving proper treatment from elsewhere), stress from lack of time for personal interests, stress about my bulging tummy (read "Fat"!)...
The list never ends....
-----
I should've avoided that stop at the tea stall! Should've refrained from having one more cigarette. All I have been having since the last two days is tea and cigarettes!!!
I hate this job! The onsite co-ordinator is an idiot. He makes all these last minute changes in the requirements. I still have three store procedures that are not running and I have a critical deployment in six hours. The last thing I need right now is my team lead to tell me that I reek of tobacco.
I sometimes think of running away from this Life. It was the same in all the three software companies I've worked at. At first, we are told that the job profile is great, with a lot of opportunity to learn.
In reality, we get to know later that that was an implication of things to come.(Imagine having to learn Visual Basic 6.0 in three days, when the major part of your work is based on C#.NET!)
And these software "Giants" are Masters of Disguise! All our stress is masked by a hoard of so-called recreational activities including Annual day, Family day, Ethnic wear day, Team Lunch, Potluck lunch, blah blah blah.
The gym may be useful, but I fail to understand the purpose of having a Fake tattoo artist or Tarot card reader in the office campus on Friday evenings!!!
I have to get down to the "Smoking Zone" and have a quick puff before my team lead logs in.
Was puffing off myself to death when I heard some one tap me on the shoulder and say "Excuse me boss! can I have a light?" in a heavy american accent. I looked at a guy in a tee and baggy jeans, and noticed his "pink" tag while I lent him my lighter.
"Pink" tags or "Pinkies" as we call them, refer to the Call center employees of our company , which is located in the east block of our premises. They have separate cafeterias, work space, and even parking space. The only thing we share in common is the time we spend here in these smoke zones. They earn almost as much as we do, and all they have to do is to speak to people on phone in those fake accents and tell the customer how to switch their laptops off!!
I would've happily switched places with one of those pinkies. All I ever wanted to be was a developer.... and now all I want to be is to be anything but a developer.
-----
That Software guy in the blue tee shirt was looking weirdly at me. Maybe, I should try harder to refrain myself from using my work-accent.
"Bhai, Whats the use of a cigarette, without Chai?" said my team mate Pramod. "Sure", I replied hopping on to my bike to drive to the nearest tea stall."
The Tea stall is a place that holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Not surprising though, having spent more than half of my life in one. My dad owned a tea stall right in the center of our village.
"Chotu! Do Allam Chai, ek mein sugar jyada!" I shouted to the tea stall owner, while I gave way to some guy who seemed to have spilled tea over his white Shirt.
I envied Chotu. He comes in the morning, sells chai for a few hours, has lunch, has a happy nap and comes back to open the shop again in the afternoon. No season affects his business, and he seems content with the work he does.
My dad was a happy soul. He always had a smile on his face, no matter how dull business was.
While for me, contentment has always been elusive. I was not suited to receive Formal education, nothing in it seemed to interest me at all. But I was quick to learn a lot of stuff that I thought was practically useful in life. I learnt driving, Swimming, and half a dozen languages including French and German. I had a good life, if you considered money as the only scale to rate life. I had my own bike, was saving enough to buy my own apartment soon. What else could a "tea stall" owners's son ask for?
A lot.
My work shift timings were in sync with the United States. So, as the whole city of Hyderabad starts to go home, at 4 p.m. I start my shift in office.
The only sunrise I ever get to see is if I have to work overtime. I sleep all day, because I work all night.
I can't comment on my social life because I don't have one. Can't remember the last time I had been to anyone's wedding. I see my brother once in a few months. The last time was when he was gifted with a baby girl... the girl is old enough now speak to me on the phone.
I wish I was like Chotu. I wish I could enjoy all the smaller joys in life that my father had. I wish I was.....
I don't think what I wish matters anymore.
-------------
"Here Doctor Saheb", I called out and returned change to this Doctor who spilled coffee on his Shirt at my Shop. I love the way doctors dress. Always in neat formals, and always well groomed.
I see a lot of people at my shop. A few even come in premium cars to have chai here. But I personally respect doctors a lot. They are the only people for whom "Saheb" comes from my heart.
I still remember the doctor who tried to help my dad breathe on his death bed. My dad passed away, but the doctor's effort to try to get him back even in those last few minutes was something I will never forget.
I repent every night on why I dropped out of school. I was in bad company and wasted a lot of years back then. My Dad wanted me to study and become a respectable man. But I ended up as a Chai hawker.
I wish I had studied well... Maybe I could've become a doctor too... I could've been a Nurse at least. They save people's lives and receive a lot of blessings from people.
I have to start washing these cups, while I notice two white clothed traffic policemen come my way...
Here go a couple of cups of chai, and a few cigarettes, down the drain of my free country.
Author's note: This short story of mine is an elaboration of a joke I used to crack, to address the stress that has become an essential part of our lives, during the smoking cessation / diabetes awareness seminars I take up as a part of my job. Hope it lets you introspect into the stress you are suffering from, and lead you to manage Stress in a healthy way.
The bike screeched to a halt a few feet from me. The Guy got down, bought cigarettes, lit one and vanished on his bike. The only thing I could notice was the ID tag of a software corporate he had around the neck of the blue tee shirt he was wearing. The corporate was housed in a huge SEZ a few km from my hospital.
It could've been the tee shirt or the stress from last night's duty at the hospital, I recalled my days after my tenth class.
"Don't be a Fool, Abho. You are talented, but engineering will propel you into a financially satisfying life. Medicine will stress you out. You will have to learn for thrice the number of years as that in engineering, and then work for much less salaries until you gain experience. Think properly before you decide." said my Grandpa, gifting me a blue tee shirt for topping my school in ICSE exams.
It was when i had spilled my coffee over my new white shirt and stethoscope, that I came back from my day-dreaming. (Apparently, hot coffee and introspection don't go really well together!)
How I wish I had listened to his words.
My life is full of stress.
Stress about duties in the hospital, stress about the health of my patients, stress about the hundreds of obligatory calls to "come , see" a patient known to my relatives (though the guy is receiving proper treatment from elsewhere), stress from lack of time for personal interests, stress about my bulging tummy (read "Fat"!)...
The list never ends....
-----
I should've avoided that stop at the tea stall! Should've refrained from having one more cigarette. All I have been having since the last two days is tea and cigarettes!!!
I hate this job! The onsite co-ordinator is an idiot. He makes all these last minute changes in the requirements. I still have three store procedures that are not running and I have a critical deployment in six hours. The last thing I need right now is my team lead to tell me that I reek of tobacco.
I sometimes think of running away from this Life. It was the same in all the three software companies I've worked at. At first, we are told that the job profile is great, with a lot of opportunity to learn.
In reality, we get to know later that that was an implication of things to come.(Imagine having to learn Visual Basic 6.0 in three days, when the major part of your work is based on C#.NET!)
And these software "Giants" are Masters of Disguise! All our stress is masked by a hoard of so-called recreational activities including Annual day, Family day, Ethnic wear day, Team Lunch, Potluck lunch, blah blah blah.
The gym may be useful, but I fail to understand the purpose of having a Fake tattoo artist or Tarot card reader in the office campus on Friday evenings!!!
I have to get down to the "Smoking Zone" and have a quick puff before my team lead logs in.
Was puffing off myself to death when I heard some one tap me on the shoulder and say "Excuse me boss! can I have a light?" in a heavy american accent. I looked at a guy in a tee and baggy jeans, and noticed his "pink" tag while I lent him my lighter.
"Pink" tags or "Pinkies" as we call them, refer to the Call center employees of our company , which is located in the east block of our premises. They have separate cafeterias, work space, and even parking space. The only thing we share in common is the time we spend here in these smoke zones. They earn almost as much as we do, and all they have to do is to speak to people on phone in those fake accents and tell the customer how to switch their laptops off!!
I would've happily switched places with one of those pinkies. All I ever wanted to be was a developer.... and now all I want to be is to be anything but a developer.
-----
That Software guy in the blue tee shirt was looking weirdly at me. Maybe, I should try harder to refrain myself from using my work-accent.
"Bhai, Whats the use of a cigarette, without Chai?" said my team mate Pramod. "Sure", I replied hopping on to my bike to drive to the nearest tea stall."
The Tea stall is a place that holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Not surprising though, having spent more than half of my life in one. My dad owned a tea stall right in the center of our village.
"Chotu! Do Allam Chai, ek mein sugar jyada!" I shouted to the tea stall owner, while I gave way to some guy who seemed to have spilled tea over his white Shirt.
I envied Chotu. He comes in the morning, sells chai for a few hours, has lunch, has a happy nap and comes back to open the shop again in the afternoon. No season affects his business, and he seems content with the work he does.
My dad was a happy soul. He always had a smile on his face, no matter how dull business was.
While for me, contentment has always been elusive. I was not suited to receive Formal education, nothing in it seemed to interest me at all. But I was quick to learn a lot of stuff that I thought was practically useful in life. I learnt driving, Swimming, and half a dozen languages including French and German. I had a good life, if you considered money as the only scale to rate life. I had my own bike, was saving enough to buy my own apartment soon. What else could a "tea stall" owners's son ask for?
A lot.
My work shift timings were in sync with the United States. So, as the whole city of Hyderabad starts to go home, at 4 p.m. I start my shift in office.
The only sunrise I ever get to see is if I have to work overtime. I sleep all day, because I work all night.
I can't comment on my social life because I don't have one. Can't remember the last time I had been to anyone's wedding. I see my brother once in a few months. The last time was when he was gifted with a baby girl... the girl is old enough now speak to me on the phone.
I wish I was like Chotu. I wish I could enjoy all the smaller joys in life that my father had. I wish I was.....
I don't think what I wish matters anymore.
-------------
"Here Doctor Saheb", I called out and returned change to this Doctor who spilled coffee on his Shirt at my Shop. I love the way doctors dress. Always in neat formals, and always well groomed.
I see a lot of people at my shop. A few even come in premium cars to have chai here. But I personally respect doctors a lot. They are the only people for whom "Saheb" comes from my heart.
I still remember the doctor who tried to help my dad breathe on his death bed. My dad passed away, but the doctor's effort to try to get him back even in those last few minutes was something I will never forget.
I repent every night on why I dropped out of school. I was in bad company and wasted a lot of years back then. My Dad wanted me to study and become a respectable man. But I ended up as a Chai hawker.
I wish I had studied well... Maybe I could've become a doctor too... I could've been a Nurse at least. They save people's lives and receive a lot of blessings from people.
I have to start washing these cups, while I notice two white clothed traffic policemen come my way...
Here go a couple of cups of chai, and a few cigarettes, down the drain of my free country.
Author's note: This short story of mine is an elaboration of a joke I used to crack, to address the stress that has become an essential part of our lives, during the smoking cessation / diabetes awareness seminars I take up as a part of my job. Hope it lets you introspect into the stress you are suffering from, and lead you to manage Stress in a healthy way.
