The subsidy brings a 3 kW system near two lakhs, hou, but on my pension, that's still a steep hill. The promised five-year payback? In this heat and dust, my neighbour's panels make less power; it stretched his to nearly eight years. My morning walk past those dull modules is why I keep my money in the fixed deposit—it doesn't need cleaning, and my knees appreciate the shorter walk.

Many US universities do track demonstrated interest, especially for undergraduate admissions, but for master's programmes, it's less common. You find out by checking the admissions webpage of each department—if they mention interviews, open houses, or encourage contact with faculty, *hou*, that's your clue. My own experience applying while juggling freelance work is that a direct, thoughtful email to a professor about their research carried more weight than any general 'interest' tracker. Small-town life teaches you that a genuine, personal touch often reaches further than just filling out another form.

A few of the lads from the library were arguing today over a mobile esports salary, hou, sums that could fund my fish market for a year. Watching my old transistor, I wonder if the signal for these smaller Dota scenes will ever come in clear, or if it’s all just static for anyone outside the big cities.

The chai-wallah by the boulders here in Tezpur still asks if I'm spotting for my 'son', hoy. My daughter in Delhi sent a grip trainer, but these old library stairs are my real project. One knee groans a protest with every step.

You know, I was fixing an old Philips radio this morning, its circuits neat and knowable. It made me wonder if our esports scene will ever feel that stable—for every one gamer landing a fat salary, there must be ten others staring at a buffering screen, hou. My daughter tells me it's all coming up, but my knees know some paths take longer to walk than others.

Ah, Commonwealth Games. My daughter in Delhi sent me a photo of the new cycling velodrome — looks like a giant _thali_ that fell upside down. I was more interested in the old Hooghly bridge behind it in the frame. All this kharcha for medals, hou, but our town’s only public basketball court still has a broken backboard I reported to the municipality in 2019. If we can train a young Assamese cyclist on mud roads and beat a Welshman on a custom-finished track, then I'll believe. Until then, show me the pothole they filled to get that cycle here.

My daughter in Delhi showed me her friend's esports contract yesterday, hou. The numbers felt like Monopoly money compared to my design fees. I wonder if these careers will last long enough for these boys to fix their own creaky knees, hoy.