What an agony...

I am a blessed soul. I have such nice friends who keep sharing their feelings, thoughts and experiences which become the subject of my blog posts.  Few days back, I got to hear this painful story of my friend. Verbatim.

"You are sleepy like hell.. your eyelids wont open even if you pin them with your forehead..you cannot comprehend anything that's happening around you.. everything appears like a slow motion movie... voices sound as if coming from an age old tape recorder. And, you are not supposed to sleep.. you have to be awake.
Can there be anything more torturous than this? For me, this can be the highest punishment possible the Almighty can give me, for the biggest sin I commit on earth!!
O Lord! why do put me through this pain so often ?  :( :(
Can any human ever win over the nature.. how can a mere mortal like me do that? All the while, gravitational forces  pull my head down and I am supposed to keep it straight... You know how much energy it takes to launch a rocket into the space, to win over the gravity! From where shall I bring that energy :-X
Poor me :(
It is not just physical pain, there is your self-respect, your dignity, your reputation and your what not at stake. After all, the whole struggle is there because sleep comes when it should not. I sleep when I am not supposed to sleep. I am supposed to be aware and agile like a dog, sorry for this stupid comparison,but I can't think of any other example...
 I was caught dozing in the class by a fellow student- that's the first memory I have. I guess before that I was a pure sin-less soul. I had never undergone that torture before that incident..
It was a physics class going on. I was sitting on the first bench, trying to understand the electrostatic theories.. but nothing would enter my ears.. and every other moment, I was passing into that blissful state of sleep..and suddenly would wake up to realise that I am in a class... of course I had lost track of what was being taught..
I was waiting for the class to end as eagerly as I wait for my room mate to come out of the wash room when I am next in line :D
The teacher was  known as Senior Hitler in college.. for obvious reasons.
As soon as the bell rang, I breathed in relief. Shook my head and started packing my bag.
I was yawning all the way out of the classroom when a classmate called me out from behind.
"I saw you sleeping", he said with that mocking grin. I stood there dumb.I wished that he fainted that very moment... what was the need to come and tell me even if he saw me..! It was so embarrassing...
One more time, it happened. And this time it was real painful.
I was in a C programming class. The pointers and variables did an amazing job in inducing sleepiness..
I was trying as hard as I could, to remain awake, to not get caught, let alone understand what was being caught.. my friend sitting beside me murmured..." apply some vicks on your eyebrows... the cool sensation will drive away sleep.." and passed a vicks ka dabba silently..
I was so hell drenched with sleep that instead of eyebrows..I stuffed my eyes with a finger-ful of vicks ointment!
Do I need to tell you for how long I could not sleep after that!
I could neither close my eyes or open them.. and tears started rolling down like a running tap.. And what I had been dreading, happened :(
The teacher called my name out and asked me, "Why the hell are you crying? " what could I say ?  :(  :(

Those were the good old student days. Now I am a professional. I attend infinite number of meetings and training sessions in scary looking board rooms and conference rooms. And when I get one of those sleep attacks, I feel, why wasn't I born insomniac!
Even coffee and tea cannot keep me awake for more than 10 minutes."

I wish there comes a vaccine soon that can help my friend...