family finance lifeline 2025-09-11T21:06:03Z

Rain hammered the tin roof like impatient fingers, each drop echoing the panic rising in my throat. I was three hours deep into Kerala's backwaters when Appa's voice cracked through the spotty connection: "Amma's medicine... the local pharmacy won't extend credit anymore." My wallet held precisely 47 rupees – enough for chai, not for cardiac drugs. Outside, flooded roads had swallowed the last bus. That's when the vibrant crimson icon on my dying phone stopped being just another app and became a