Woes of a travelling job

My job in pharmaceutical sales profession exposed me to all the woes associated with a travelling job. The problems were unique. Since I was a bachelor when I started my sales career covering a small geographic territory (Guntur town and Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh) I had to eat food in small restaurants and eating joints in various small towns which  served food totally different from the hotel in Bangalore. I used to consume generally bland and less spicy but very tasty food at  a hotel (Gayathri Boarding) for the entire duration of my college studies in Bangalore. Food in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh is usually very spicy. It was tough adjusting to the food since no two consecutive meals were generally cooked by the same chef as the travel meant that I had to be going to different hotels. 

Living out of a suit case, necessiated by the travelling sales job, restricts life in many ways. We carry limited dresses while on travel warranting usage of laundry services in hotels where we stay to get the dresses washed. During the years of my job (1972 to 2002) modern washing facilities were conspicuous by their absence. Old style of washing by the hotel dobhis (washermen) at the dobhighats meant frequent need for replacement of buttons. Clothes were washed by repeated beating against a wash stone. No wonder buttons get broken in the process. I always carried a handy pocket-sized Travel Sewing Kit with me wherever I went on tour so I can repair holes, attach buttons and sew up rips in clothing. The kit consisted of sewing threads of 6-7 colours of a few metres of length each. A few coloured shirt/pant buttons, a few needles, a pair of small scissors and a few safety pins formed the other items for any emergency use. All were tucked neatly inside a plastic pouch for easy carrying. Some high end hotels also provided this traveller's sewing kit as compliment for the hotel guests. Finding a place to repair your clothing whilst you are travelling can be a nightmare.

Advance booking of Train and Airline tickets frequently was cumbersome and lacked the comforts of today. Since internet was not in existence, arranging for travel from the comfort of home was unthinkable. I had to make frequent trips to railway stations and airline booking offices for buying my travel tickets. For much of my working life, credit/debit cards didn't exist or could not be used with any ease for these transactions. All hotel bills, travel bookings and all sundry expenses were to be paid by cash. Carrying hard currency became imperative. But back in those days, bank networking wasn't existing. One had to visit a specific bank branch (usually one had his account in his headquarters town) to draw money. I am ever thankful to my wife who used to draw and keep money ready for me because I was out of my headquarters on most of the working days.

All in all, inspite of all these problems, I certainly enjoyed the thrill of overcoming all these to succeed in my job. But the biggest gain was that it provided an opportunity to the lady at home to learn to manage all works independently in my absence. Neighbours around envied her for her abilities.