How to stay cool in PR land this hot, hot summer!

Ice, cool buttermilk, chilled wheat beer, watermelon, mangoes, swimming, the hills, winter is coming. Are you feeling a wee bit cooler already?

No? Well, here are some top tips on how to stay chill as the mercury climbs well into the 30s and the 40s in India. 

Drink Up!

Summer is all about ever hotter temperatures. 

"This makes one lose their calm at the workplace and get into unwanted arguments. Dehydration is one of the reasons for losing your temper during work time. So drink plenty of water.", advises Himanshu Mehra, a PR executive with Buzz Communications.

For Sunita Venugopal, director, Media and Public Affairs at Walmart Labs India its mind over matter when it comes to staying away from the heat. She says, "Being a Bangalorean, it’s hard to see how the summers have turned merciless now! Keeping my mind ‘cool’ is very important to me and I normally chill by spending time with my boxer ‘Miles’. Yet another relief is that I love cooking and hence making some home production mocktails keeps my two girls happy. Catching up on all that’s happening on Avengers and GOT is another way of ‘staying summer cool’"Bernay IMC'

For Chaittali Dave, manager, Mumbai at Nucleus PR " A tall glass of sugarcane juice does the trick every day." 

She also says work smart and, "Make use of technology as much as possible. Conference calls, video calls, phone calls and online hangouts. Trust me, your client will also appreciate it!

Bernay IMC's Raghavendra Rao doesn't hesitate to whip up some traditional summer drinks in the kitchen to keep summer chill as he says Bengaluru has been unusually hot this year. He suggests, " Explore in the kitchen as I did trying all sorts of cool drinks like chaas (buttermilk), jaljeera, lassi,  iced tea, musk melon juice, shikanji, mango milkshake, ice-cream soda, fresh lime juice and cold coffee."

Summer peeves!

When it's so hot and you are stuck at work, every little thing can bug you. Mouth breathers anyone!

For Chaittali, a pet summer peeve is, "When the AC in the office gives up or/and when the people who feel extra cold in office switch it off!"

Raghavendra says the, "Biggest stress is going to the meeting fresh. With bad traffic and hot summer that’s one big challenge. You just run short of ideas."

Malika Bhavnani, associate general manager, business communications, Madison World says, "A lot of clients activate campaigns during this season – which is likely to lead to a burnout that no SPF can protect us from!"

Atul Malikram, Founder PR 24x7 believes that "Work stress is real and many of us are afraid or unable to get away from the computer for a long weekend. As a result, we over-schedule ourselves when we travel and jam our days and nights with things to do. The end result is that we return exhausted from summer vacation."

Be cool to stay cool!

This is the season to break out those trendy linens and cotton. Geetika Gulati's communications consultant and founder ZIVComms, go to option is to, "Wear cool, summery stuff to work...look good and feel nice...when colleagues compliment, you get a boost and stay happy through the day."

Her other advice, shared with some chill alliteration, is to "Carry cool coolers (drinks) in the coolest sippers - you just feel COOL about things surrounding you! You know what I mean!" 

For, "Shabbir Hussain, co-founder and creative head, Hats-Off Digital Pvt Ltd., what puts him right with the summer months is "A walk at night with soothing music and assi tussi te lassi every afternoon!"

Malika stays zen by, "Activating the vacation state of mind by spending more time in and around the pool. Also, added facial mist to my beauty must-haves."

Prajwal Viswanath, PR and marketing manager at Amstar Technologies,

sweating it off keeps him cool, "To keep myself cool I insist on getting a head and neck massage every weekend without fail. Since I have started cycling to work this massage detoxifies me and makes me prepared for the arduous week ahead."

On a work note, Atul advises that "We should always set the computer on "sleep" mode if we are away from it for more than 10 minutes and it will give off less heat. When we leave the office in the evening, we should shut the machine down completely."

Geetika also suggests, "Work from home, i.e. if you have the liberty to....one can get lazy getting out of home in this weather...and we must acknowledge that one is more efficient working from home as you avoid your smoke breaks, tea breaks, chit chat, gossip while the boss is away etc...So work from home once a week in the hottest month."

There you have it. How to stay chill this summer. And if these tips don't work you can always take to the 'hills'!