Field notes
Pages from the Tak Bai desk.
These notes are about the decisions inside a long-term savings goal: which month sets the contribution, how school fees sit beside groceries, and when a map should be rewritten. Lalita writes them between sittings.
Counting a five-year house plot before you name the monthly line
A relative’s price for a plot in Taba is only the first figure. The monthly line comes after the thin months are named.
Two purses: school fees and the grocery month
When tuition and supper come out of the same envelope, the school always wins the argument and the kitchen loses the month.
What to carry into the first savings sitting
You do not need a perfect spreadsheet. You need the months you actually lived, and the goal you are willing to say aloud.
Rewriting the contribution line after a family change
A savings map is a dated promise to yourselves. When the household changes, the promise is rewritten, not quietly broken.