KOCHI: A speedy conversation between two drivers at the mobility hub in Vyttila, Kochi, which I happened to overhear, was somewhat like this:
Work over for the day? What plans for the evening?
(Laughing) No plan, mother is admitted to the taluk hospital. ‘Night duty’ there.
Oh! So, not working tomorrow?
Yes, working.... Need to work, see you in the morning....
Here was a man who could not afford to take proper rest at night after toiling behind the wheel of a ‘limited stop’ bus on the busy Kottayam-Ernakulam route from dawn to dusk. It may not have been the first such instance in his life, not the last either. I might have come across him earlier and described him ‘notorious’, ‘rash’ or ‘greedy’ for his style of driving, but I felt for him this time.
How stressed he might be, I wondered. Soon, I realised that he is perhaps lucky that he doesn’t know what “stress” is. Because we often attach similar words to the affluent or those who are into elegant jobs.
Assigned to do an article on stress last year, a cub reporter called up a few IT engineers and came up with a lengthy piece based on their quotes. Asked why he thought only they felt stress, he said most Indian reports he had read on the subject contained only techies’ quotes. He thought they “suffered” the most.
“Stress?” asks an Infopark-based techie about stress in the IT sector. “In my 20 years’ life as a software engineer, the biggest pressure was to save the cuticle on my right index finger from hitting against the striker on the carrom board. Most offices are an extension of college campuses.” It may not be fully true elsewhere. A BPO sector engineer, who tracks cargo movement in the US, begs to differ, saying the stress factor depends on the nature of the work one is doing.
We sympathise with Virat Kohli when he fails to get to double figures for three innings on the trot, or continue to root fervently for our superstar when his latest release falls flat at the box office. But a slight difference in the voice of the teller at our bank or the sales girl at the mega mall or the security person in our office compound is enough to test our tolerance levels. Do we ever think they are stretched by people of various characters in different ways day in, day out?
‘Work pressure’, ‘target’ and ‘deadline’ are all associated with elite jobs, not the menial ones.
The job of a woodcutter, at 25-30 feet height, with one arm around the trunk, involves risk and the pressure it brings along with it, but he is never given his due.
Demand, control, support, relationship, role and change are said to be the six reasons for work-related stress. If so, aren’t they applicable across all sectors?
The stigma associated with stress often stops many from opening up. But, in the case of several others, they might not even know that they are suffering from such an issue.
Why not spare a thought for them? A smile?