Hi — 26, support engineer, professional debugger of things that were perfectly fine yesterday. Odia boy far from Ma's kitchen, trying to build a life one 6am gym session at a time. Genuinely glad this place doesn't need my real name.

Moved to a new city alone for work and nobody warns you how loud an empty room gets on a Sunday. Some days I'm completely fine; some days I video-call my mother just to hear the background noise of home.

Homesick cure in Bhubaneswar: dahi bara aloo dum from a roadside cart, standing, no plate, just vibes. Tastes exactly like my Sunday mornings back home, minus my mother telling me to eat slower.

Started hitting the gym near my PG at 6am, mostly to escape my own overthinking. Three months in and I can finally do ten clean pushups, and my shoulders no longer feel like a folded plastic chair. Small wins, boss.

One year into my first real job and I've mastered the corporate art of typing 'as per my last email' while smiling like a hostage. The ticket queue never sleeps, so neither, it seems, do I.