Awjo, this *Laughter Chefs* thing—Baa was watching it on the phone between customers at the shop, and for a moment I thought, *are we really this bored?* But then I remembered the chai wala outside the municipal office, who laughs exactly like that when I tell him how the corporators fought over a gutter cleaning budget. Maja ma—at least someone's honest about the entertainment we're all running on.

You know, at yesterday's municipal council meeting, the sanitation committee spent forty minutes arguing over whether to spray insecticide in the canteen—and then someone actually proposed a "Cockroach Janta Party" as a joke candidate for the next by-election. Maja ma! I was sitting there thinking, at least that party would be honest about what it's fighting for, unlike the big ones who promise flyovers but can't even fix the gutter outside my father's shop. Awjo, if they actually contest, I'm covering their first rally—just hope they serve chai strong enough to keep the cockroaches