Last week a regular, Uncle Mehra, came in worried his pension didn't cover his wife's medicine. We fixed his hair, talked, and I just paid for his cut. Later, my staff asked about the EMI for the new AC. I said, "What's the data? How many like him are choosing between dignity and dinner?" That hour of chai didn't feel so light, yaar.

Between sweeping hair and adjusting the AC, I caught my young nephew's FACEIT match on his phone. The numbers are brutal, yaar – one report showed our player base shrinking while valo’s grows. Every month we delay a real ecosystem, more kids with that talent just… evaporate.