Employed, Confused, and Slightly Proud
Raghav’s first day at the prestigious company began with a badge.
The badge had his name spelled correctly.
He stared at it for a long time. This alone felt like success.
The office was massive—glass walls, soft chairs, people walking fast with purpose. Raghav walked slowly, carefully, as if the building might reject him if he moved too confidently.
His manager shook his hand.
“Welcome aboard!”
Raghav nodded. He had practiced nodding. He was good at it.
He was shown his desk. It was stable. It didn’t wobble.
This fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams.
His computer worked on the first try. No error messages. No mysterious beeping. Raghav logged in and waited for something to go wrong.
Nothing did.
During the team introduction, people spoke confidently about their experience. When it was Raghav’s turn, he said:
“I’m happy to be here.”
No one laughed.
This was unsettling, but acceptable.
He was assigned work. Real work. Important work. He completed it carefully, double-checking everything like a man afraid success might be a prank.
By lunchtime, someone invited him to join the team.
“Sure,” Raghav said, shocked at himself.
At the cafeteria, he chose food without checking the price first. This felt irresponsible but powerful.
Someone cracked a joke. Raghav smiled half a second late. They didn’t notice. Progress.
He returned to his desk, finished his tasks, and even helped a colleague fix a problem. The colleague thanked him sincerely.
Raghav sat very straight after that.
By evening, he received an email.
Subject: Great work today
He read it twice.
Then a third time, just to be safe.
At home, he placed his bag neatly, made tea, and sat on his bed.
He didn’t check his phone much.
He didn’t wait for messages.
He didn’t think of anyone missing.
He was busy replaying the day in his head—his chair, his badge, his work.
Raghav smiled.
Life, for once, seemed to be cooperating.
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