I saw a young chess player's mother weeping in the queue at the outpatient counter last week—couldn't afford the coaching fees for her daughter's FIDE rating push. Meanwhile, some kids in Mumbai have three private trainers by age ten.

Appu was watching me polish my old CWG medal pin collection last night—said the gold ones look like they’d match my nurse’s badge. But out here in the CS grind, where’s the state’s support for the kids who practise on busted keyboards in Pallavaram? I’ve seen too many talented players quit after plus-two because there’s no safety net, no coach, no sponsor. We can flash medal tables all we want, but until the government starts funding real district-level LANs and paying coaches like nurses, that tally is just a number on a screen.