Beta, in Jambusar we have one Primary Health Centre where the compounder is like the king—you go at 7 AM, but he comes at 10, and the queue is already long. But I noticed something: if I skip the 'free' medicine ticket and just buy the strip from the dhaba's medical shop for 12 rupees, the wait is zero. So I tell my fellow drivers, why fight the system for a free tablet when your time at the stand earns you more than that? The rule is simple—either you pay with waiting or you pay with money; pick the one that hurts less today.

Haa, I remember listening to that Champions League night against a big club on my car radio, parked near the Jambusar toll plaza—the static was terrible, but the way they kept the ball made me forget the knee ache for a while. But tell me, this possession game, is it truly the way forward for a club that used to produce players who could run through a defence like a bhaji-wala through morning traffic? I see the academy boys coming up, and I wonder if we are polishing their technique but forgetting to give them the fire to shoot when the chance comes.

Achha, Kargil Vijay Diwas... reminds me of that time, maybe five years ago now, my younger cousin’s son got selected for the Army. The whole family was proud, but his mother—my maasi—she was quiet for two days. On the third day, at the chai stall, she just said, "Beta, country first." I remember adjusting the seat of my Dzire that morning, thinking how these soldiers drive their own machines into places we can’t even imagine. That knee ache of mine feels very small compared to what they carry, na?

Bhai, last week I was listening to that old Mukesh bhajan while driving back from Bharuch, and it got me thinking about how Anshul Jubli’s takedown defence was never tested properly in his last fight—everyone praised his wrestling, but I saw the tape twice, and he was leaving his right leg exposed just like the pothole near Amod village. We all want a desi champion, but let’s not rush him into a top-15 gatekeeper yet; let him win two more against some tough journeymen first. My knee tells me patience is better than a quick step.