Performance Pressure !

It was 7 PM and time to hit the invisible road hidden with traffic. Ya, Mumbai is horrible during office hours. I was sitting in my client's office with the Marketing Manager and the Assistant Marketing Manager. Loren and Milita were packing their laptops and getting ready to leave.

I was wondering when I would be getting a laptop to show-off. It was 2003 and the second year of my career. "I should have a laptop in another year or so.. that would be my benchmark to a successful career in Mumbai"

Suddenly, out of the blue, Loren said, "too much pressure..." I turned to him and asked, "What pressure, boss? The day has just got over", Loren looked with a funny look, chuckled and said, "Beta, shaadi karega to samjhega (Son you would get to know when you marry!)". That was completely unexpected for me.

I knew that marriage is not easy and it surely builds pressure, but even then I couldn't relate to Loren's exasperated emotion at this joyous moment of ending a day in office. Before I could further ask him a question, he continued, "Housewives dont understand the pressure that one goes through in office for the whole day. They are at home chilling and waiting for their husbands to come home with all kinds of expectations.... there is always this performance pressure when you go back home, therefore."

When I was just starting to kind of get the meaning of which 'performance pressure' that Loren was referring to, Milita, who was sitting and listenning to Loren speak, smiled and said, "It is a problem for us, working women too. We have no option but to feign a head-ache a lot of the times.

I could only stare in dis-belief. Is that what that would happen to my sexual apetite, that I am so proud of!!

What the fuck !!

Noopur is frustrated, actually angry.

This is the time of the year where 60% of the bell curve are angry. We work in a large, really large bank where we have formulas and geometrical curves to decide on ratings to reflect how we worked the whole fucking year. Only 20% of the many thousands of workers would get the top two ratings. The next 60% are mediocre and last 20% will be probably asked to leave.

I am sitting with Noopur in the canteen trying to listen to her ranting about how can she get a rating of 3, which is just average. Someone told me that when a girl is angry, you should just listen to her.

I too wonder... wtf, she did perform well. She got all the new projects. She even got a junior before all of us.

It was 7PM and time to go home. I could not leave Noopur alone when she is so depressed and angry. I decided to drop her to the hostel.

Life is so unfair, man. She actually worked hard.

Noopur sure has the guts. Next morning when I enter the office, I see Noopur arguing with our super boss with full gusto. I am sure she has all the arguments to fight for a better rating. I know for certainty that she can argue more convincingly with someone who she thinks is a loser and an irresponsible jerk.

Suddenly it struck me that once I was pissed off with Noopur for her ambitious mean self and I had mentioned that to our super boss..