Eighteen years ago, I walked into my first classroom as a teacher—not fully aware that a single appointment would shape everything that followed. This is a brief reflection on my first job, unexpected opportunities, institutional generosity, and the people who made space for me to grow—academically and personally. A note of gratitude, memory, and quiet pride. Today, I completed 18 years of service—across aided, government, and university services. Like first love, the first job leaves an imprint that never quite fades. It shapes your confidence, your ethics, and your sense of what is possible. But when that first job arrives unexpectedly—at 25, without grand plans or careful dreaming—you don’t always recognise, in that moment, how decisive it will be. That was me on 17 December 2007, when I received my first appointment as an Assistant Professor at St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry, under the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. It was my first visit to Kozhencherry—first for the intervie...