This is such an uncertain and difficult time for the Indian student, entering into the future in an era of AI-related job losses, repeated paper leaks and unprecedented competition. I can’t even imagine the level of stress I would have gone through if I was a student today. Like any well-meaning citizen, I hope that those who caused these paper leaks are punished and they never happen again — and as a parent I hope that students achieve the peace of mind and mental space to focus on their future. I failed at several things in life. I didn’t get through the IAS or the JNU SIS exam — and it then seemed that that was the end of the road for me. But paths opened and finally I found my calling. I think students need what most of us never had — the right career advice, about options (what if one can’t become a doctor or engineer? And can we enable them to think about different careers according to their calling and not family pressure?) I stand by India’s students. As a parent and as someone who is privileged to have an overwhelming number of youth among my listeners, I hope this eases and they can pursue their dreams without the fear that their place in their future can be robbed by theft or deceit or factors beyond their control. On Mr. Sonam Wangchuk, I have mixed views. I admire his polite, decent way of resistance and I hope he ends his fast — because he has chosen to risk his well-being for the cause of students. But he has also chosen some wrong battles in the past, like strongly endorsing Byju’s-owned WhiteHat Jr that was ruining the minds of millions of children by promoting compulsory coding and selling the fear that their lives would be ruined if they didn’t. I had then written that an iconic educator like him endorsing something that would destroy the futures of young people — made him a “fallen hero” in my eyes. But that was then. The future and well-being of students is a cause we should all agree on, whatever we feel about other issues. India’s future rests on the future of our students. It has to be preserved at any cost.