8 min readOct 1, 2026 02:28 PM IST First published on: Oct 1, 2026 at 02:23 PM ISTAnkita Das had just finished a sales training at a hotel while at work at Long Beach, California, and took another three hours to drive back to her home in San Diego. She reached at 10 pm but was happy that she had time to shower, eat and prepare for the next day. She had an early morning training at a centre just half-an-hour away and was not unduly worried. But soon the 33-year-old field application scientist at a private lab in the US realised that she did not have her suitcase full of lab supplies that she needed for the training.“I panicked. My colleagues were already questioning my competence. They had started to notice that I forget things, that I rush. And the worst part was I did not even know where the bag was,” Ankita recalled. “My husband was annoyed at my forgetfulness and while he was deeply worried about me driving all alone so late to get back my kit, I felt completely misunderstood, isolated and overwhelmed,” she said.