Zahid Raja

“Name’s Zahid. Starts with a Z, ends with a beautiful friendship?” - Zahid Raja

Zahid Raja is a supporting character in the Netflix drama series Atypical. He is a teenage boy who works with Sam Gardner, whom he’s best friends with, at Techtropolis, from Season 1 all the way up to Season 4 of the show. Zahid is portrayed by actor and stand-up comedian Nik Dodani.

Biography[]

Season 1[]

At Techtropolis (which is run by the top manager Bob), Sam is new as an employee to the store, where he gets anxious around everyone, especially a male customer, whom Sam has a hard time responding to his demand about finding the chargers. However, his anxiety fades away when he meets Zahid for the first time, while he tells the customer that he should buy the chargers at aisle 3 and the customer gets a 10% off price for being stylish. Zahid and Sam both become close friends easily when Zahid asked Sam if he is Australian or not, but Sam tells him that he is autistic. Zahid is glad, since he claims that he hates Australians and he and Sam both talk to each other to get to know each other. Zahid doesn't want to train Sam to work more efficiently at his job like Bob does, but to train him on how to get a girlfriend and to become independent in life.

Sam begins to look for a relationship, encouraged by Zahid. He goes on an unsuccessful date with a random girl that he met through online dating, and then another, where he asks out a woman named "Riley" in Techtropolis and he ends up pushing her off the bed when she starts to touch him at her house.

Zahid tells Sam to go to the mall with him, but since Sam told his mother, Elsa, about it, she goes along with them to choose the right clothes for him.

However, in the clothing store, Sam doesn't want his mom to decide for him. He wants to buy the clothes for himself to become independent, and he tells her to wait outside of the store. Prior to Sam's mom leaving the store, Zahid tells her that if she ever gets mad at someone so much, he would rub his butt on the person that he dislike on his or her car, to which Elsa takes his advice by rubbing her butt on Julia's car for jealously believing that Julia is deciding everything for Sam. Zahid picks a greaser-inspired leather jacket for Sam to wear to look nice or cool for the ladies over his favorite penguin shirt. Sam doesn't find the leather jacket comfortable to wear and he doesn't like it, even though he still purchases it.

During the night, Zahid invites Sam to a strip club. Zahid wants Sam to experience seeing naked women and even having sex with them. Zahid goes inside of the strip club to have fun without Sam, who’s very sensitive to bright lights and loud noises in the club. Once Zahid is done at the strip club, Zahid finds Sam in shock that he saw female breasts and even genitals of a stripper named "Destiny" for the first time in his life.

When Sam demands to have sex with Paige at her house while her parents are away, Zahid is tagged along by Sam to travel to a pharmacy store. In the pharmacy store, Sam asks bizarre or funny questions to an employee about condoms that makes the employee very uncomfortable. He purchases the condoms to head towards Paige's family dinner at the Olive Garden, where she invites Sam to.

At the Gardner home, after Sam's meltdown stage had ended and his burnout stage starts, a tired Sam rests on his bed, while wearing his light green hoodie. Zahid comes in to cheer him up, and that he says that chicks are the worst to them. At the same time, Zahid says that he and Sam should meet a bunch of them downstairs. Surprisingly, outside of Sam's house, Paige is screaming at Sam for dumping her heart at the Olive Garden, and in retaliation, she dumps a bunch of Sam's belongings on his lawn. Paige departs from Sam's lawn and Zahid responds by telling Sam to apologize to her, so Sam decides to bring Zahid with him to help him find Paige's lost penguin necklace at his school.

At the autism-friendly Snow Ball dance at his school, Zahid assists Sam to find the penguin necklace in the pool at the school's gym, getting himself wet. After Sam's reconciliation with Paige inside of an igloo, Zahid is informed by a happy Sam that she gave him a sexual handjob.

Season 2[]

To prepare for college, Sam seeks for Zahid's advice. Zahid helps him to deceive his school counselor on his resume to appear to be interesting, even if Sam is a horrible liar. Furthermore, Zahid consents with Sam to have a sleepover with him at his house, in case if Sam wants to live on-campus of college. Unfortunately, being very sound sensitive to Zahid's snoring and his alarm clock due to his autism, Sam leaves Zahid's house to return to his home.

On Sam's way home from Zahid's house, a cop named "Officer Timms" confronts Sam about violating curfew, scaring him into almost having a meltdown. Zahid wakes up and realizes that Sam left his house, so he goes out to search for Sam. He finds Sam being aggressively threatened by Officer Timms with questions as to why he is up very late at night in the suburbs. Zahid tries to educate the cop to understand that Sam has autism, but Zahid is put in the same situation as Sam and they are both taken into custody to the police station.

At the police station, Zahid stands up for Sam against Officer Timms by stating to him that if anything bad happens to his best friend, then the cop will be blamed for assaulting him and he will even be discharged from the police force. However, Officer Timms continues to refuse to listen to Zahid's words, and he refuses to be educated on Sam's neurological condition. Luckily, Sam's father, Doug, calls Officer Timms for him to pick them up from the station.

After that, Sam tries to figure out which colleges he should apply to. Sadly, at Techtropolis, Sam realizes that he lost his college portfolio for his art school application, and he panics. Zahid attempts to call Casey to comfort him, and they make him retrace his steps of where he left it last time. In relief, Sam was given his portfolio back by Amber at his house.

Season 3[]

Zahid and Sam are both invited by Abby to an art jam party. Zahid was initially excited to go there to hook up with hot girls until he realizes that its not really a wild party and that its only artists trying to perfect their drawings to impress others. On the other hand, Sam enjoys the art jam party. While Zahid tries to lit a smoke, Abby informs him to not smoke here and he should go outside to do it. Zahid leaves Sam in the party to go to a nearby dumpster, where he meets and hooks up with Gretchen, while listening to Miley Cyrus with her.

At the Gardner home, Zahid is invited with Gretchen, Izzie Taylor and Paige by Sam and Casey for a couple's dinner. Zahid was having a great time at dinner until Gretchen ticks off Sam and Paige about college being a waste of time and money. The dinner immediately ends there.

Gretchen, however, appears to have a defiant personality, as Sam later discovers through a Techtropolis security footage that she stole a turquoise fitbit from the store. Sam tries to convince Zahid, who is acting as the top manager, while Bob, the real manager, is away on vacation, but Zahid refuses to acknowledge it as a theft. Instead, he marks it down as a shrinkage. After being given some advice on doing the right thing, Sam reports the incident to Bob when he returns from vacation. Enraged, Bob bans Gretchen from the store and puts Zahid on thin ice. Furious, Zahid ends his close friendship with Sam, and he later announces that he is getting married to Gretchen.

Later on, Sam takes Zahid's favorite shirt from his bedroom's closet at the Gardner home to prove that they still have a bond, even if they are no longer friends with each other and that he still thinks that Gretchen is not the right woman for him. Sam places Zahid's favorite shirt on a stove at Techtropolis, incinerating it by accident and causing sprinklers to set off. Zahid doesn't respond to him as he leaves the scene.

At a casino, Sam, Paige, Casey and Abby all track down Zahid, and they try to disrupt Zahid's wedding. Unexpectedly, Gretchen tells them that her ex-boyfriend, Gavin, asked her to get back together again and she agreed, dumping Zahid. In the batting cage room, Zahid is tracked down by Sam and they both reconcile their close friendship, after Sam takes a direct hit from a baseball to defend Zahid, indicating that he is always there for his bro. They even have a ceremony as proof by bump fisting each other to become permanent best friends, despite some of the hardships they face together in the past and in the future.

In Paige's car, Zahid rides with Sam, Abby, and Casey to a restaurant to eat out there, while Paige drives them from the casino. He discusses to Sam that he wants to become a nurse, and he will take the nursing exam to prove his point. Sam approves of Zahid's dream goal. As a price to pay for getting Zahid back, Sam misses his ethics test, failing his ethics class at his college.

On a canoe (which was purchased by Paige to give to Sam) inside of Techtropolis, Zahid decides to live in an apartment on his own away from his parents. He asks if Sam can be his roommate. Sam accepts Zahid's offer, making Sam move out of the Gardner home, prior to the start of the fourth Season.

Season 4[]

This Season's finale begins with Sam now becoming independent by living with Zahid in their apartment. During their time living as roommates, Sam is bothered by Zahid's unusual habits, such as placing the trash can below the kitchen sink rather than next to the refrigerator. Because of this, Sam invents a bunch of rules that Zahid has to follow to compromise with his behavior. Not taking anymore of Sam's strict and multiple rules, Zahid has a fight with Sam over control in their household. As a way to get both sides to agree with each other, Zahid tones down his behavior to a moderate level, as well as buying him another trash can to put next to the refrigerator and convincing Sam to have less rules from now on. Sam agrees with him, and they both get along again.

At the Gardner home, Sam attempts to sell as many of his belongings as possible to customers on a yard sale to donate money for his trip to Antarctica. He also persuades his audience, especially Zahid, in his slideshow event to donate hundreds of dollars to him by explaining to them about being passionate to meet penguins and his expertise on surviving in the wild. Sam's speech does not sit well with Paige, who angrily tells his audience that he can't survive in the arctic area, due to his inexperience. Sam becomes saddened by her and he leaves his house to enter a cold storage room at Paige's workplace, but Zahid, along with the audience, sided with Sam against Paige.

Tragic news smite Zahid as he tells Sam the reason why he can't look after his pet turtle, Edison, is because he has testicular cancer on his right testicle. Feeling bad for Zahid, Sam decides to drive Zahid home after his surgery, but he needs to be taught on how to drive by Casey first to improve his driving skills. Zahid goes along with what Sam says, and when his surgical operation is over, Sam drives him home to their apartment.

At Zahid's apartment, Zahid meets a beautiful woman, Honey, for the very first time. She moves in next door to his apartment. He attempts to flirt with her to attract her, and have sex with her. However, he states to Casey and Sam that he is now a new man by being nice and respectful to Honey, since he had his testicular surgery and Zahid found Honey to be differently beautiful from the other girls he casually flirted with. Casey explains to Zahid that this is how meaningful and romantic relationships last for a long time, similar to her relationship with Izzie and Sam's relationship with Paige.

At the end of Season 4, Zahid says goodbye to Sam, whom he entrusts his pet turtle to him over Paige, while he’s away at Antarctica. They both hug each other as this is Zahid's final appearance in the show.

Appearances[]

Season 1[]

Antarctica (S1:E1)
A Human Female (S1:E2)
Julia Says (S1:E3)
A Nice Neutral Smell (S1:E4)
That's My Sweatshirt (S1:E5)
The D-Train to Bone Town (S1:E6)
I Lost My Poor Meatball (S1:E7)
The Silencing Properties of Snow (S1:E8)

Season 2[]

Juiced! (S2:E1)
Penguin Cam and Chill (S2:E2)
Pants on Fire (S2:E4)
The Egg Is Pipping (S2:E5)
In the Dragon's Lair (S2:E6)
The Smudging (S2:E7)
Living at an Angle (S2:E8)
Ritual-licious (S2:E9)
Ernest Shackleton's Rules for Survival (S2:E10)

Season 3[]

Season 4[]

Relationships[]

Sam Gardner

Antarctica[]

Zahid Raja tells Sam that he had sex with a Veterinarian last night and tells him that a parrot was repeating back the things she said. Sam asks what the parrot looked like and he tells him that it was a red sort rainbow. Sam lets him know that it was a Scarlet Macaw. Later on in the show, Zahid Raja lets Sam know that there is a girl smiling at him. Sam asks what to do and he tells him to smile back; however, Sam delivers a creepy-looking smile that scares her away and he tells Sam that he has impressive range, managing to scare her away from across the store.

A Human Female[]

Sam tells Zahid Raja the same story he tells his father, Doug, and Zahid Raja tells him his dad is right in the sense that "a girl is fair game until there's a ring on it. And I mean a wedding ring, an engagement ring just means she's ready for one more mistake". Zahid Raja turns around to see a woman and a guy, stating "okay, this is perfect". Sam turns around to see what he is staring at and Zahid Raja tells Sam to watch him. Zahid Raja then dances around the girl in his series of weirdness, but interesting-mess, and comes back to Sam and tells him that's how you do it. However, he also mentions that the guy said he was going to kick his ass and he has a neck tattoo, so he's going to hide in the back. Later on, Zahid Raja gives Sam a lesson on "how to steal a girl". Zahid Raja tells him that step 1 is to be "hella charming", step 2 is to "find out what sucks about her current boyfriend", and step 3 is the most important thing, "Chocolate Covered Strawberries". He states that "it makes girls horny as hell and that's science". Sam tells him that science requires empirical evidence. Zahid Raja says the evidence is "her panties on the floor of my kitchenette", but Sam claims this is anecdotal and pseudoscientific. Zahid Raja tells Sam to just get the berries, which Sam writes down on his list.

Julia Says[]

Zahid Raja is invited by Sam to go shopping. Zahid Raja helps Sam dress appropriately to physically attract women to his dress sense. Zahid Raja picks him out a greaser-inspired leather jacket, but Sam says it doesn't feel like him. He states that Julia told him to buy clothes that feel like him; however, Zahid Raja puts this statement away, telling him that if he's trying to get girls, the last thing he wants to do is dress the way he feels and dress more to impress them. Feeling uncomfortable, Sam is increasingly persistent to take it off, which he does. Sam takes the time to find a shirt he likes and finds a shirt almost covered in whales and it is blue. Zahid Raja tells him it looks bad. On the contrary, Sam lists the things he likes about it. Zahid Raja allows him to wear it, but he asks Sam to still wear the leather jacket over it to which he agrees to.

A Nice Neutral Smell[]

Zahid Raja and Sam are at their place of work talking. Sam is making a pros and cons list of Paige. On the other hand, Zahid Raja tells him he doesn't need a list. He says that Julia is a girl, and he probably wants to touch his "peen", which means penis. Sam tells him what Julia said and Zahid Raja asks him how well he knows Paige, to which Sam replies that they mostly study in Newton High School. Zahid Raja then tells him that Sam needs to get both him and Paige into a different environment, one that is less controlled and sterile. Later, Zahid Raja, Paige, Sam, Casey and her boyfriend, Evan, at the Gardner household. They are all having dinner. Paige takes Sam and Zahid Raja talks as a way to take his Pros and Cons list that she found out about before and find out what it says on it. She realizes the page is ripped out, but she knows that she can scribble a pencil over the page underneath to expose what he wrote. She does this with ease, and she doesn't like what she saw. Back at the dinner table, Paige apologizes for taking so long and says one of the things on Sam's list. Zahid Raja catches wind of this, but he doesn't act on it or tells Sam as he's not sure. Paige references his list again, and this time, Zahid Raja knows that she's seen his list and alerts Sam of this. After Paige alerts the family of his list, Zahid Raja jumps to his defense telling Paige that Sam did write that she has very clean shoes; unfortunately, this doesn't help, as it tells her that he'd read it, which makes her uncomfortable. Elsa asks why Sam made the list, and Sam tells her it was helping him decide if he wants to be with Paige or not. After this, Paige gets up to leave and thanks Elsa and Doug for the dinner. Sam asks his family and friends "she's mad?". They all confirm and Sam gets up to comfort and talk to Paige.

That's My Sweatshirt[]

Zahid Raja is seen kissing a girl named "Kayla", on a bench. Sam is seen sitting on the opposite side, talking about how he feels. He stops and just stares. Kayla states that she finds it weird. Zahid Raja tells Kayla that Sam has an issue with his practice girlfriend. Kayla gives him advice after being convinced by Zahid Raja. Zahid Raja tells Sam that Kayla works at Claire's and that she can pierce whatever body part on him at a discount, except for his genitals, because he won't allow Kayla to handle any other male genitals. Sam is confused by this, but Zahid Raja doesn't explain why.

The D-Train to Bone Town[]

At their place of work, Sam tells Zahid Raja that Paige is making him go with her to the Winter Formal, commenting that he thought it sounds dumb. Zahid Raja tells him "that sucks." Sam then tells Zahid that she wants him to come over, because her parents are away at a wedding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Zahid Raja pays attention to the last line, noting Sam that she wants to have sex with him. However, Sam asks Paige because he feels like this is a stretch and wants to check with Paige, later we see Paige say "Maybe" and Sam reports back to Zahid Raja, Zahid Raja tells Sam that this means "yes" and Sam checks once again. Paige confirms this theory. Later on, Zahid Raja is seen with Sam attempting to buy condoms at a pharmacy store, after Sam goes through a detail and he questions the pharmaceutical clerk about using condoms. Zahid Raja buys the condoms for Sam, after he confirms his choice and Sam then reads aloud "each condom is electronically tested" and states "that's good". Later on in the show, Sam comes to work and shares his trouble with not having seen female genitals before with Zahid Raja, worrying that he can't have sex. Zahid Raja takes him to a strip club, but the lights and the sound are too much for him to handle. It is revealed that certain lights and sounds/noises can be too much for someone on the autism spectrum. Sam waits outside, while Zahid Raja stays in and Sam encounters Destiny, who doesn't like the club very much but she worked there. Sam tells her his problems. She gives him advice, and she shows him her boobs and vagina for preparation. She tells him "good luck". Zahid Raja comes out of the club, and he says "sup, Destiny", implying he knows her and he confronts Sam asking "what'd I miss?!", after seeing a frozen surprise look on Sam's face.

I Lost My Poor Meatball[]

Zahid Raja and Sam are both at their place of work, and Sam pops up beside customers, who are talking to Zahid Raja and tells Zahid Raja that Paige is in love with Sam. This catches Zahid Raja's attention, and he tells the customers he has to talk to Sam. Sam tells Zahid Raja that he has been asked to go for dinner to the Olive Garden on Thursday. Zahid Raja tells Sam that he can't meet them until he knows he loves her back. Sam asks how he would know that he loves her, and Zahid Raja tells Sam that he will know when he is in love with her. Later on, Zahid Raja and Sam are both at their place of work again, and Zahid Raja is walking around Sam in circles, Sam asks Zahid Raja if he is doing it to relieve stress. Then, he states that he does the same thing. He also suggests that he knock repeatedly on doors. He says he does 4 counts or 4 knocks, and he tells Zahid Raja that he can do any number he wants. On the contrary, Zahid Raja tells Sam that he took advantage of Techtropolis's holiday sale, and got a FitBit for health, He tells Sam he should get one too, so that they can go on long walks together to clear their heads. Sam tells Zahid Raja he doesn't likes to exercise, but he'll let Paige know about the discount. It then clicks in Sams' head that he just accomplished the third thing on his "Do I Love Paige?" list, which is "first person you want to tell big news." Having already accomplished checking off "first person you think of in the morning" and "makes me a better person", he tells Zahid Raja and they both hug each other tightly, as Sam likes pressure and not a soft touch. Julia comes in to buy something and gets confirmation that Julia is Julia, the girl he previously wanted as his girlfriend. He then witnesses an awkward encounter of Julia, but then tries to flirt with Julia.

The Silencing Properties of Snow[]

Zahid Raja comes to the Gardner household with a delivery and speaks to Sam. Sam tells him about his panic attack or meltdown on the bus, which caused a dramatic or awkward scene. Sam tells Zahid Raja what happened with Julia. A sudden angry voice starts shouting, which they both recognize as Paige's voice. Paige shouts extremely loud at Sam for quite a while and Zahid Raja asks "dude, what'd you do to her!?" Sam says he doesn't know, and Zahid tells Sam that he needs a big apology to make it up to her. At school, Zahid Raja helps Sam find the penguin necklace he gave to Paige, who lost it at some point on Tuesday. He goes through a fear of water to get the necklace back and he gives it to her. They make up with each other sexually after a lot of talking and compromising. Sam exclaims to his father that he received a handjob in an igloo.

Trivia[]

Zahid appears in almost every episodes of each Seasons, excluding the third episode of Season 2 of the show.
Zahid was born in Vermont
He’s a Sagittarius
He’s MBTI-type ENTP
Zahid is Indian descent.
He calls his parents his roommates.
He loves to smoke weed or pot.
He used to work at Techtropolis, along with Sam Gardner.
He wanted to become a nurse after watching nurses in the hospital when his grandmother was sick, since he thought they did all the important stuff.
Due to his hypersexuality or compulsive sexual behavior, he often flirts and has sexual intercourse with multiple women until Season 4 when his right testicle is surgically removed to prevent cancer from spreading to the rest of his body. In other words, he’s somewhat similar to Glenn Quagmire from Family Guy.