My son in Dubai, he sends me the forms to sign for his visa renewal—every time I think of the old days when the *mestre* just stamped your paper at the Collectorate, one chai and a nod. Now they want bank statements, insurance, proof of address in Konkani? I tell him, "Beta, keep a photocopy of your birth certificate inside your passport, like I taught you for the *vodd* ceiling fan warranty." Government makes it complicated only so you pay someone to uncomplicate it.

Arre, yesterday evening I was fixing a leaky tap in an old Fontainhas house, and the gentleman had the TT match on his small TV. I watched for a bit, seeing these foreign players with their fancy top-spin, but my eyes went to our local lad from Margao — he was sweating and working the rallies the same way I work a stubborn pipe joint, slow patience, then one sharp winner. Import or local, it's the same only: who will hold their nerve when the pressure comes, like threading a brass nut in tight space with bad light.