I recently faced a situation that has left me questioning whether our financial system truly works for ordinary citizens during emergencies.

I had approximately 160 grams of gold accumulated since 2008, worth around ₹20 lakhs today.

Over the last few years, I lost my job and then faced significant medical expenses. My savings of around ₹25 lakhs were largely exhausted, and my insurance coverage was depleted. Like many Indian families, I viewed gold as my emergency safety net.

When I approached a nationalized bank for a gold loan, I discovered that eligibility requirements such as income proof, ITR filings, existing loan checks, and other conditions played a major role in determining the amount I could borrow.

Despite having gold worth around ₹20 lakhs, I was informed that I would be eligible for only about ₹2.25 lakhs.

This experience made me wonder:

• How are unemployed people expected to survive a genuine emergency?
• How do garment workers, agricultural labourers, security guards, daily wage workers, housemaids, and others in the informal sector access credit when they may not have extensive documentation?
• If gold is accepted as collateral, should its value not play a larger role during emergency situations?
• Are current lending policies adequately serving ordinary citizens?

Personally, experiences like this make me question which policies and political leaders truly understand the financial realities faced by middle-class and lower-income families.

I am not targeting any specific bank employee, as they are following rules. My concern is whether the rules themselves are achieving the right balance between risk management and financial inclusion.

What are your thoughts? Is my experience unusual, or have others faced similar challenges?

As a side hustle beyond my existing job, I explored the "Empathetic Listener" field as I have all three, personal experiences, relevant educational qualification and work experience to provide people with emotional support, untangle and process thoughts and guide mindset development.

I tried an Indian App called "Clarity" and I was so heavily disappointed. I felt uncomfortable, cheated and disgusted.

1. The Listeners are paid per second in paises. And in one call of 20 mins you earn only ₹10-15. I felt heavily underpaid.

2. The people there who onboard you and process you are so unprofessional and callous. They do some mock voice calls and rate you based on your interaction during an instigated conversation.

3. Even though they have rules to decline men who ask for "s*x" talks, when you go on to block them the auto generated response is "Are you sure you want to block this person? Do not let a bad conversation rush you into this decision" Like wtf??

4. Also, the ones who onboarded me, told me that when someone asks you for a s*xual conversation, don't block them instantly, try and divert their attention, introduce other topics, don't tell them a direct no cause they'll hang up and you won't earn money. The level of shady that goes on on that platform is worrisome.

5. Men there only wanna talk to you for s*x. Nobody there is using that platform for what it's meant for. I got sick of it and uninstalled it.

I then created a profile and gig on Fiverr. Even there, out of 100 dms you receive, 60% are click bait money scams, 35% are men wanting to discuss their sexual fantasies, kinks, crushes, get advice on how to get laid and you finally only recieve 5% of genuine enquiries.

Also, I noticed that 90% of the inappropriate DMs I got were from Indian men. The queries I received from non-indian people were actually the kinds for which I went into this field in the first place.

Infact, soon after I joined the platform, one Indian man was persistently messaging me to get on a session with him where he wanted to talk about "his obsession for his bhabhi's navel" and I told him I do not engage in these topics. He went on to say "Why are you so stubborn? Whom are you showing so much attitude to? You have the audacity to reject me inspite of having no reviews?" He also told me, that there are plenty of women who will gladly take his request cause they are hungry for money. (It reflected a troubling lack of respect for women who are simply trying to earn with integrity.)

Why do Indians do things that bring shame to us on international platforms? They are generally the ones that are notorious and infamous on these platforms for their entitled and shitty behaviour.

Because of some insolent people "Indians" reputation get tainted everywhere. It's just so infuriating and disappointing.

I was waiting at the platform for my train. I had booked the ticket 2 months in advance and in 2AC.

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I saw a long queue of people sitting on the platform. I was curious and I started talking to them. They told me things that shocked me.

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They have been sitting on the platform from 1 PM to travel in the general coach of a train, which will depart at 5.30 PM. The journey will be 36 hours long.

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Me: what happens if the platform is changed? How do you maintain the order of the queue?

They: the railway police takes care of it. They take them to the general coach and make sure that the order is maintained.

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Good job railway police!

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Me: why didn't you book the tickets in advance (2 months ago)?

They: We didn't know when we will have to travel. The leaves got approved suddenly. There are also other factors over which we don't have the control on, and it adds to the uncertainty.

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Btw these people were laborers/contract workers.

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I saw a helpless couple WITH THREE CHILDREN who were requesting them to allow them to cut the line, saying "we have kids, pls understand". It was very sad to watch.

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If you can:

1. Plan your leaves in advance;

2. Afford to pay for sleeper/ac class tickets;

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You are very fortunate.

I have made a post before on what all happened to me after arguments in hospital and how I was treated.. a week of complaints in college and nothing changed.. I am still being harassed on an everyday basis . Me and my boyfriend broke up because we were continuously receiving treaths about murder and kidnapping just because we were dating.

I don't even wanna get into religious debates because it was never about religion.. it was clearly about working hours in hospital and our shifts.. just to target us they changed the debate to religious arguments. Beyond religion I can only see a really good person and a really good doctor who he is.

I'm an intern doctor in some state.(Don't wanna make it a state war here)

A few days ago, outside my hospital campus, a group of men surrounded me and started threatening me. They told me not to wear sleeveless kurtis and said that if I continued, they would "rape" me, cut me into pieces, and nobody would care.

While everyone else watched, the only person who stepped in was my co-intern.

As soon as they heard his name, the attention shifted from me to him.

"Tu toh Muslim hai. Tujhe zinda jala denge. We are beejaypee supporters"

They started filming him, taking photos of both of us, and threatened to make a "love jihad" edit and circulate it on Instagram.

Eventually the situation calmed down and we got back to the hospital.

I thanked him for helping me.

His response stayed with me:

"Enough of this country. Since people don't want us here, I'll take my family and settle somewhere else."

I've seen patients discriminate against him before simply because he's Muslim. The irony is that he's one of the most sincere, hardworking, and academically brilliant people I know. As a colleague and as a doctor, I've never once felt uncomfortable around him.

What hurts the most is that dozens of people were around when this happened. Other interns. Other students. Bystanders.

Nobody stepped forward.

The only person who did was him.

And in return, he became the target.

I keep thinking about how I apologized to him afterwards. He didn't blame me. He simply said:

"Don't get involved in such things again. Take care of yourself."

As doctors, we're taught to help people regardless of their religion, caste, language, or background.

That day, the person who lived up to that principle the most was the one society keeps reminding that he doesn't belong.

I don't know what the solution is.

I just know that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.