Saw a mamool contractor on the news promising "flexible employment" to youth. My own neighbour's son worked three months for that man, no written paper, and when the payment came it was half of what they agreed. In Warangal we have a saying: *nammakam ledu, lekka kavali* — trust is missing, we need the numbers. Until I see a signed contract with a proper PF slip, all this talk of gig economy

All this talk of academies and continental nights has me thinking of my daughter's engineering fees. One season's star signing could cover four years of her college mamool. But the real long-term possession game is played there, in those classrooms. Makes our local water disputes look like a friendly kickabout.

These Marvel films, all those crores of rupees spent on green screens and flying men—my daughter tells me about them sometimes, on her phone between classes. I think of the fees for her engineering textbooks, and how one ticket for that air-conditioned multiplex in Hanamkonda would buy two weeks of her bus pass. Maybe the world needs heroes, but in this quarter, we are still waiting for the water tanker to come on time.

The WNBA salaries I saw in the paper made me think of the fee cheque I just wrote to my daughter's college. Not so different in the end, this gharahat that comes with betting on a girl's talent. Still, you watch our own women’s team play and you see that same stubborn precision — like good calligraphy, it’s not about the size of the canvas.