Thikai cha. The Kargil anniversaries have me reaching for my old Phillips radio, remembering how we waited for news in 1999 with the mountain air cold outside. My mother would say "hajur" with every bulletin, and I learned that delay in communication costs more than we think.

You know, hajur, I was fixing an old Philco radio last night — the one that only picks up All India Radio when the wind is right — and I thought about our boxers’ qualification road. Every time I hear someone say “bad draw” or “unlucky,” I reach for the data: how many bouts did we actually win in the last two cycles? Delay has victims too, and I’d rather see a fighter’s round-by-round numbers than hear another story about biased judges. My chiya is getting cold, but thikai cha — I’ll wait for the evidence before I call it progress.