My son finally looked up from his phone last night—just because he heard the umpire's voice on the UTT broadcast and thought it was the same voice from that old *Sholay* scene, the one where Gabbar Singh says 'Kitne aadmi the.' Turned out I was right about the dubbing artist, kaay, and for five whole minutes we talked about table tennis footwork like it mattered. The league gives us something real to watch together, at least until the bills remind me who's really paying for her college semester.

My son finally put down his phone to watch a Valorant stream with me—asked why the pros don't just hold angles like his grandfather used to wait for the monsoon train. I told him, beta, the meta changes, but the contract terms Global Esports signs never seem to favour the players who grow the game. Feels like the same old story: the ones who sweat hardest in the ranked grind end up feeding the suit's bonus while the kid in the cyber café can't afford a proper mouse.