I have never told this story to anyone properly,…

I have never told this story to anyone properly, because it feels embarrassing to say that you worked for one month and got no money. It was tournament time, and I was not just teaching, I was managing everything from 7 AM to 5 PM for 22 days continuously—making and printing lists, calling parents, handlingfighting kids, bringing water bottles, and fixing broken microphones. Ma'am had promised on the first day that payment would be made on the 15th, so I was relaxed, but when I messaged her that morning, she replied late at night saying it would happen next week. The following Wednesday, she told me to check with the accounts department, who in turn told me only Ma'am would know. I had exactly 340 rupees left in my PhonePe, my room rent in Shimla was 3,500 rupees, and my landlord was asking for it daily while I kept delaying him. I stopped going out with friends, lying that I wasfasting just to avoid spending 20 rupees on tea, and I lived on eating Maggi once a day because at 24 years old, I couldn't bring myself to ask my father for money.

One day, my card declined at a shop while buying a notebook; I blamed it on a network issue, walked out, sat on a bench, and felt like crying. Finally, after exactly one month and three days, on the 18th of the next month at 7:42 PM, I received a notification near the bus stand that 8,000 rupees had been credited to my account. I didn't feel happy—I just felt angry and tired. I wanted to type a long message to Ma'am asking if she knew what I had gone through, but because I knew I still needed the job for the next month and couldn't risk being fired, I simply replied, "Thank you Ma'am, received." That month taught me very clearly that for an office, your salary is just a number or a file they can delay, but for you, it is your rent, your food, and your whole life.