Managing Stress
Art and Adversity
Experts say that in the modern or rather post modern world every person has to cope with lots of stress both at work place and at home. Somebody’s wife is not kissing; secretary not licking; boss is constantly kicking. There could be numerous other reasons causing increased levels of stress. But despite all these stresses man/woman continues to live and survive. Each one of us devise our own methodology to deal with stressful situations. I will tell you a story from my National Defence Academy (NDA) days- on how I dealt with one particular situation through the use of art form.
During my childhood the movie which had influenced me the most was Anand. The way Rajesh Khanna (Babu mushei) deals with the adversity left a lasting impression on my mind. This belief was reinforced by Munshi Premchand’s story ID Gaha, which we had read in our Hindi text book in 9th or 10th standard. The core of the story was “dukuoon mein bhi takhake (Laugh) lagana sikho”. Both the movie and the piece of literature helped me to develop my indigenous variety of stress management tools.
Coming back to my NDA story. It is a story about the last and final camp which we were required to undergo before the passing out parade. After finishing the camp fire, and enjoying loads of tipsy pudding (trifle fruit), the last exercise was a 20 Km padyatra (walk) beginning at 2’0 clock in the night.
My squadron consisting of 20 guys gathered together with all our packs and tummies full with tipsy pudding. The report was made to a surdy army officer. He looked at us from tip to toe and said “look guys this is tough exercise, the sis’s can fall out”. Somehow during my entire stay at the NDA, I had never been able to impress this guy. He had always considered me to be big shammer, a passenger who just did the required bit. He looked at me again and said “when the going gets tough the tough report sick”.
During the last exercise I had developed a big blister at the back of my ankle and the heavy ammunition boot, which I was wearing, was troubling me. I was seriously contemplating falling out and taking the easier route of traveling in an ambulance. But the contempt in that surdy officer’s eyes and sarcasm in his voice emboldened me to take the plunge. Moreover, since I was a naval cadet that army officer considered us little inferior in physical work. I did not want to pass out without completing this last exercise.
The padyatra started at two in the night. We started moving through bushes and mountains. As we progressed my blister started getting worse and the pain began to increase. I started falling behind. It was becoming increasingly difficult to carry my rifle and other load. My course mates who were not aware of my blister kept encouraging me, and I kept walking. As the sun began to rise my hopes of completing the walk started to diminish. The pain was almost unbearable and the fever was also beginning to shoot up. But there was no question of giving up. So, I kept walking bringing up the rear. I finally completed the walk reached NDA around 11:30 in the morning and just fell flat hurting my forehead with the tip of the rifle.
I don’t know what gave me the strength to achieve my aim but throughout the walk I kept humming Gulam Ali’s gazal to myself: Jinke Honton (Lips) pe hasie (smile) paoon (Feet) mein Chale (Blisters) hoonge, haan wahi mere chaahne wale hoonge.” These few lines gave me tremendous strength to cope with the adverse situation.
Did you discover, that I am writing this to cope with some stress in my life? Yes, writing is giving me tremendous satisfaction and energy to cope with the stress caused due to a young girl in my office insisting on calling me ‘sir’ and not Atul.
Experts say that in the modern or rather post modern world every person has to cope with lots of stress both at work place and at home. Somebody’s wife is not kissing; secretary not licking; boss is constantly kicking. There could be numerous other reasons causing increased levels of stress. But despite all these stresses man/woman continues to live and survive. Each one of us devise our own methodology to deal with stressful situations. I will tell you a story from my National Defence Academy (NDA) days- on how I dealt with one particular situation through the use of art form.
During my childhood the movie which had influenced me the most was Anand. The way Rajesh Khanna (Babu mushei) deals with the adversity left a lasting impression on my mind. This belief was reinforced by Munshi Premchand’s story ID Gaha, which we had read in our Hindi text book in 9th or 10th standard. The core of the story was “dukuoon mein bhi takhake (Laugh) lagana sikho”. Both the movie and the piece of literature helped me to develop my indigenous variety of stress management tools.
Coming back to my NDA story. It is a story about the last and final camp which we were required to undergo before the passing out parade. After finishing the camp fire, and enjoying loads of tipsy pudding (trifle fruit), the last exercise was a 20 Km padyatra (walk) beginning at 2’0 clock in the night.
My squadron consisting of 20 guys gathered together with all our packs and tummies full with tipsy pudding. The report was made to a surdy army officer. He looked at us from tip to toe and said “look guys this is tough exercise, the sis’s can fall out”. Somehow during my entire stay at the NDA, I had never been able to impress this guy. He had always considered me to be big shammer, a passenger who just did the required bit. He looked at me again and said “when the going gets tough the tough report sick”.
During the last exercise I had developed a big blister at the back of my ankle and the heavy ammunition boot, which I was wearing, was troubling me. I was seriously contemplating falling out and taking the easier route of traveling in an ambulance. But the contempt in that surdy officer’s eyes and sarcasm in his voice emboldened me to take the plunge. Moreover, since I was a naval cadet that army officer considered us little inferior in physical work. I did not want to pass out without completing this last exercise.
The padyatra started at two in the night. We started moving through bushes and mountains. As we progressed my blister started getting worse and the pain began to increase. I started falling behind. It was becoming increasingly difficult to carry my rifle and other load. My course mates who were not aware of my blister kept encouraging me, and I kept walking. As the sun began to rise my hopes of completing the walk started to diminish. The pain was almost unbearable and the fever was also beginning to shoot up. But there was no question of giving up. So, I kept walking bringing up the rear. I finally completed the walk reached NDA around 11:30 in the morning and just fell flat hurting my forehead with the tip of the rifle.
I don’t know what gave me the strength to achieve my aim but throughout the walk I kept humming Gulam Ali’s gazal to myself: Jinke Honton (Lips) pe hasie (smile) paoon (Feet) mein Chale (Blisters) hoonge, haan wahi mere chaahne wale hoonge.” These few lines gave me tremendous strength to cope with the adverse situation.
Did you discover, that I am writing this to cope with some stress in my life? Yes, writing is giving me tremendous satisfaction and energy to cope with the stress caused due to a young girl in my office insisting on calling me ‘sir’ and not Atul.
No comments:
Post a Comment