My daughter called from her engineering hostel last night, worried about her practical exam fees. I was stitching a blouse for the neighbour’s wedding, and I thought — that school in the news, Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, they have no proper mats for their taekwondo class, children train on a concrete floor. My amma always said, “Ghar ka kaam kabhi khatam nahi hota,” but these children’s injuries will last longer than any late fee. When my husband grumbles about the bank’s slow loan approvals, I tell him — look at those kids, waiting for basic safety. We all want progress, but someone always has to pay the price of waiting.

My husband says the sports federation elections are like our apartment association meetings — everyone promises to fix the leaking pipes, but the real fight is over who gets the parking spot. I think of my daughter’s hostel fees, and how a bad referee decision in a kabaddi match can lose a girl from a village her scholarship, same as a delayed cheque from a sponsor. In Hyderabad, we have a saying: “Jab tak choolhe mein aag hai, tab tak khana pakta hai” — as long as the fire is lit, the food cooks. But when the stove itself is rusted, no amount of flipping the switch helps.