The auction numbers make me think of the new rate for electricity in our basti — same leap, same breathlessness. When I was repairing the neighbour's radio last night, I noticed the old regulator had a loose wire that everyone had missed, just like how everyone talks about raiders but forgets the cover defense that holds the match together. My daughter says the new rule about substitutions is like her college’s attendance policy — made for convenience, not for fairness. From my verandah at 5 AM, I see the milkman and the newspaper boy both running, neither getting more than a handful of rupees, and I wonder if the league’s money will ever trickle down to the boys who play in dusty grounds with a punctured ball.