During my childhood, I often tagged along with my grandmother to the local market. A vivid memory lingers in my mind, where she cleverly negotiated a lower price with a vendor, then gave the initially demanded price back as a bonus. Despite our family’s limited means, she found ways to assist those less fortunate, demonstrating the universal impulse to help irrespective of economic or social status.
India’s middle class continues to harbour mistrust towards institutional approaches to charity. It prefers to give directly, and witness the impact of its actions. One prevalent method is to provide advances to domestic help, to be recouped from future salaries.
However, managing this process can be a daunting task. I recall my spouse struggling