A MAN ONCE ASKED his hens to lay 10 eggs each day. All but one obliged.
When the man asked the odd one out the reason behind its underwhelming performance—it laid only one egg a day—it scoffed, saying, “Be grateful I am doing even that; I am a rooster.”
Gaur Gopal Das, in his inimitable style, used humour to drive home an important point—workplace pressure. A simple Google search would lay bare the harsh realities of toxic workplaces. This year, several deaths have been reported because of overwork and work pressure. In today’s tech-enabled world where hustle is glorified and most are running the race against time, performance pressure often leads to mental exhaustion.
In his session ‘Why Today’s World Needs Healing’ at THE WEEK Health Summit 2024, the engineer-turned motivational speaker said that a toxic workplace impacts health in more ways than one. “Workplace pressure has been taking the better of us and draining us. Healing before performing is important,” he said. There is more to life than just performance; performance can bring you enhanced standard of living, while healing will bring enhanced standard of life, he explained as he hummed lines from Rajesh Khanna’s popular Hindi track Zindagi ka Safar—Aise jeevan bhi hain jo jiye hi nahin, jinko jeene se pehle hi maut aa gayi (there are lives that were lost even before they could experience living).
“I took about 280 flights in 2019,” revealed the monk. “It has definitely made me adept in the in-flight safety instructions. I am qualified for the job.” Alluding to the guidelines suggesting putting on one’s oxygen mask before helping others, he said one must heal themselves before contributing to the world. While maintaining the need to heal, he stressed on the need to perform to the best of one’s abilities without it impacting the quality of life.
Gaur Gopal Das was later joined by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on stage, and the two talked at length about ‘The Secrets to a Meaningful Life’. Tharoor reminisced about his journey from being a diplomat, working in different nations to coming back home to serve the country. He stressed on the need to find a larger purpose and work with that vision in any profession, anything that goes beyond immediate self and is not driven by social media pressure and the fear of missing out. “I found my purpose when I joined politics. I feel great joy in being able to work with people through politics,” he said. He said he has tried to make a difference in everything he has done so far.
This September, Tharoor had reached out to late Ernst & Young worker Anna Sebastian Perayil’s father. Anna had succumbed to workplace pressure. Post the meeting, Tharoor had asked for an eight-hour workday, five days a week, highlighting that “human rights do not stop at work”.
Seconding him, Das talked about the need to find courage in life, be it intellectual, spiritual, moral, social or individual courage. “Social courage means being unapologetically ourselves,” he explained. “Emotional courage means accepting our circumstances and mistakes without guilt. Intellectual courage means learning, unlearning and relearning. Spiritual courage enables one to step out of comfort zone. Moral courage means doing what is right even if it is an unpopular choice.”
Warning young minds of the harms of technology, especially phones and social media, the two made a case for healing and balancing to mitigate pressures, a must for today’s time.