Chapter 3: Legal Roadblocks and Family Pain

Suresh’s advice was blunt: “Get a lawyer, yaar. These people are too slick.”

At the law firm, sweat clinging to my shirt, I entered the cool office. The receptionist barely smiled, flipping through a thick register. Inside, the lawyer sat behind a desk cluttered with files and a small pooja thali, a half-burnt agarbatti mixing with the AC’s chill.

Halfway through our talk, his phone rang. He answered in rapid Hindi, discussing a property dispute with someone named Choudhary-ji. Only then did he turn back to me.

“You’re not the first, Mr. Kumar. These quota scams are common. Even if you win, you’ll get a bit of compensation, not your child’s seat. System slow hai, bhool jao jaldi kaam hoga.”

The words stung. My Meera’s dreams, reduced to a line item in someone else’s scam. I slumped in my chair, the ceiling fan humming overhead, matching the emptiness in my chest.

My wife had taken a tougher job to help pay the EMI. Meera boasted to everyone about starting big school soon. My in-laws had sold their gold chain to help us. Every call from home: “Beta, bas admission ho jaye, phir sab theek ho jayega.”

How could I face them now? Their faith, their sacrifice—was this how it ended?

A fire raged inside me, but I kept it bottled. In this country, sometimes it feels like the system is designed to break you.

But I wouldn’t let it. Not for Meera.

My thumb hovered over my wife’s contact. For a moment, I thought of sending her a WhatsApp message—just a quick "call me when free." But she deserved to hear it from me directly. I took a deep breath and pressed call.

Her voice came on, trembling. “What’s happened? Don’t scare me.”

I told her everything, as simply as I could. She listened, tears breaking through. I heard the rustle of her dupatta as she wiped her face, the clink of her spoon as she stirred sugar into cold chai, staring at Meera’s prospectus lying open.

“We did everything right, still this happens to us?” she whispered, voice cracking.

I promised her, and myself, “No matter who stole our quota, we won’t let them get away with it.”

I meant every word.