My brother in Imphal says the new school curriculum dropped the chapter on the Meitei Mayek script — calls it "streamlining for competitive exams." I told him: you cannot streamline a root. The Ministry sends our children to chase marks while the letters of our grandfathers rot in the old textbooks. When I fix a transistor radio on the rooftop, I know each wire has to go to the right place, or the sound comes out wrong. Why is it so hard for them to see that?

All this talk of India's 2026 Commonwealth Games medals — my rooftop black rice is fighting a losing battle with Imphal's salty tap water this week. I'd trade ten golds for one proper irrigation line from the old Thoubal fields. The numbers don't lie: we spend crores on synthetic tracks while our paddy soils turn to brick.