The other day I was sorting through old newspapers for the shop’s billing — had to stop and read about Sonam Wangchuk’s march again. It reminded me of the time our local chai committee argued for three hours whether the government should fix the potholes first or the school roof. I think we keep asking the wrong question when we treat every demand as a separate grievance. The real issue is the same everywhere: some people have too much and the rest are left to beg for what’s fair. Until we stop fragmenting the struggle, the tally doesn’t change.

When my parents' medical shop needed its license renewed, the paperwork felt like a lifetime of 'sambandha' in triplicate. So I understand the scramble, but these policies—like our state's old rice subsidy—should weigh heaviest for those starting with the least. The real evidence is in the rent receipts we save, and whose children get to sit in the school desks.

I was out foraging for kendu berries this morning, and the whole way back I kept thinking: our Asiad medal count gets celebrated like a monsoon festival, but have we ever seen a proper district-level sports budget break down? Bhala, everyone loves the tally, but the numbers I’d actually trust are the ones showing how many village kids have a playground within a kilometer. That’s the real sambandha between the podium and the pothole.