Short Story: Approved

Keerthana Nalamothula’s story is a roller coaster ride of corporate emotions we go through at work, balancing life delicately with our profession.

The projector hummed softly, the sound just loud enough to be noticed when no one was speaking. A pale rectangle rested on the far wall, slightly skewed. The lights had been dimmed halfway, enough to see faces.

The conference table ran the length of the room, crowded with water bottles branded with different company logos, charging cables knotted together, and laptops open to inboxes no one had checked in the last ten minutes.

Rohit stood beside the screen, remote balanced in his palm. He had angled himself carefully, one step away from the beam.

“So to integrate AI into our IT services,” he said, clicking forward, “we’ll begin with internal automation of basic ticket triaging, response suggestions, escalation prioritisation.”

Boxes slid into place. Arrows converged. The same terms he spoke appeared verbatim on the slide, bolded.

“This will reduce turnaround time,” he went on, his voice settling into its presentation cadence, “and free up the team for higher-value tasks…. Better productivity overall.”