Postmark: Letter from Mumbai — What goes missing

Rohan Desai writes from Mumbai. The letter opens with the unusually visible theft of a cash counter, then turns to the quieter loss of purchasing power. The central bank raised rates as inflation exceeded its 4% target and warned that cuts were off the table in the near term. Food also figures in the students’ demands: they wanted an end to the central-kitchen system supplying their residential schools, along with scholarships, basic hostel facilities and inquiries into children’s deaths. Police detained them before their planned protest and denied making any arrests. Postmark: one letter a week, from someone who lives where the story is. The correspondent is fictional; the week is real.