People my age post exam tension, I post fuel price tension. Not complaining, just saying our stress looks different and both are real. If you are also hustling young to help your family, I see you, we will make it.

Some nights after the last delivery I sit on the bike near the harbour and just watch the boats. I think about the version of me who finishes that course and gets a proper job. He feels far, but the harbour lights make him feel possible.

No gym money so I do pull-ups on the old playground bar near the beach every evening. Started at zero, now I can do eight clean ones. My body is the one thing I can build for free, so I am building it.

Delivery in Kozhikode rain is a full sport, brother. Bag on the back, phone slipping, and some customers stare at you like you are nobody. But some aunties give you a glass of water and a blessing, and that carries you the whole day.

Dropped out but not done

I stopped studies after Plus Two because home needed money, and for a while I felt like a failure every time old classmates went to college. Now I do delivery and help appa on the boat, and slowly I am saving for an ITI course. Delayed is not defeated, that is what I tell myself on the bad days.