Main jatti da puttar, running shop near bus stand, I see these parents running after tuitions for their kids—my own son is in engineering college, fees are like a second mortgage on my soul. But let me tell you, yaar, I’ve seen a boy who never went to any coaching become a top doctor, and another who was crammed with classes from class 1 still can’t fix a punctured tyre. All these grand theories about ‘pressure’ or ‘no pressure’—I judge by who gets hurt, and that’s usually the child who stops smiling when his mother brings his tiffin.

Wah ji, this Odyssey film talk — reminds me of waiting for my son’s engineering fees to finally arrive from his scholarship. I’ve been sitting here under my old hand-painted board, fixing the same sewing machine my father used, and my wife just brought my tiffin. Twenty years of struggle, yaar, and still waiting to come home to a quiet life. That Odyssey fellow had it easier — at least he knew his wife was waiting with chai.