Episode 81: The Farmer’s Son’s Coaching Fee — When Rural Dreams Collide with Urban Debt
Series: Broken by Burden: Financial Survival Strategies for the Troubled Mind
Date: 24-Sept-2025
🎭 Dreams Too Heavy for Two Shoulders
Setting: A small village near Balangir, Odisha, and the bustling coaching hub of Kota, Rajasthan.
Characters:
- Raghunath Behera (45): A farmer with cracked palms and a heart full of dreams for his son.
- Bijay Behera (17): His son, bright and shy, with a passion for biology and a hope to become the first doctor in his village.
- Madhavi Behera (40): Bijay’s mother, a silent pillar, who sees the storm but feels helpless to stop it.
- Ravindra Sir: The smooth-talking coaching institute agent who convinces Raghunath about Kota.
- Chirag (18): Bijay’s roommate in Kota, who becomes both a friend and mirror to his struggles.
🌾 The Land of Dreams
For years, Raghunath plowed his 1-acre land, hoping for one good monsoon. He’d sit with Bijay every evening, listening to his son talk about science, biology, and how he wanted to save lives.
Bijay: “Bapa, one day I’ll wear a white coat. You won’t have to work in the sun again.”
Raghunath (smiling, touching his son’s head): “For that dream, I will sell my blood if I have to.”
It wasn’t blood — but half an acre of ancestral land that Raghunath sold to arrange ₹3.5 lakh for Bijay’s NEET coaching in Kota.
The fee breakdown was staggering:
- Coaching: ₹1.8 lakh per year
- Hostel & Mess: ₹8,000 per month
- Test series & books: ₹50,000
- Miscellaneous (travel, clothes, pocket money): ₹40,000
🚉 Arrival in Kota
Kota dazzled and frightened Bijay.
The streets were lined with giant billboards of toppers, every second chai shop buzzed with physics equations, and hostels were full of boys and girls like him — all with the same dream, all with the same fear.
Chirag, his roommate, whispered on the first night:
Chirag: “Here, bro, if you don’t solve 100 questions before lunch, you feel like you’ve failed life already.”
Bijay (nervously): “Back home, I was the topper…”
Chirag (half-laughing): “Here, everyone is a topper. Just don’t let it crush you.”
💔 The Pressure Cooker
Bijay’s first test score was 28/100.
Chirag scored 62. The topper scored 92.
Raghunath (over phone): “Beta, how’s the study?”
Bijay (lying): “Good, Bapa. I’m preparing hard. Don’t worry.”
But at night, he’d sit by the hostel window, staring at the flickering neon coaching sign. He missed the smell of his mother’s rice, the sound of his father sharpening the plow.
Meanwhile, back in the village, Raghunath’s debts were piling. With half his land sold, his harvest was less. He had taken a ₹1.2 lakh loan from a local moneylender at 3% interest per month to pay Bijay’s second term fees.
🗣️ Conversations That Hurt
One Sunday call:
Madhavi: “Bapa hasn’t eaten properly for days. The moneylender came again today.”
Bijay (guilty): “Ma, tell Bapa I’ll work harder. I’ll make him proud.”
Madhavi (softly): “Beta, you’re our pride. But don’t let this dream eat you alive.”
🏚️ The Breaking Point
Six months later, Bijay failed his second mock test. He couldn’t sleep for nights. Chirag found him crying at 3 a.m.
Bijay: “Chirag, maybe I’m not made for this… My father sold his land, and I can’t even pass a practice exam. What kind of son am I?”
Chirag: “Bro, you’re not alone. Half the boys here think of jumping off terraces. This system doesn’t care for us — it only cares for results.”
Bijay didn’t tell anyone, but that night, he wrote in his notebook:
“If I fail, I won’t go home. I can’t face Bapa.”
💡 What This Story Teaches Us
- Education dreams often become debt traps. The pressure to “make it big” can destroy both mental health and family stability.
- Kota, NEET, and JEE hubs are not for everyone. Success stories are highlighted, but failure stories are buried in silence.
- Parents need financial and emotional planning. Selling assets for coaching is a high-risk gamble, especially with no backup plan.
- Children are not investments. They are lives, and their mental health must always come before marks.
🛠️ Practical Advice for Families
- Check alternative career paths. Medicine isn’t the only way to success. Explore other sciences, scholarships, or state colleges.
- Budget coaching expenses realistically. Avoid high-interest loans or selling critical assets.
- Have mental health check-ins. Encourage kids to talk openly about pressure.
- Look for government or NGO sponsorships. Schemes like INSPIRE or state-level scholarships can ease the financial burden.
🌱 Where They Are Now
Bijay didn’t crack NEET in his first attempt. He returned home, broken but alive. Raghunath hugged him, whispering:
“Land can come back, beta. I can work again. But I can’t bring back you.”
Today, Bijay is preparing for a career in medical laboratory technology, supported by a smaller state college program. He still dreams of wearing a white coat, but now without the crushing weight of someone else’s debt.
Episode 82: The Dowry Car — When Marriage Negotiations Turn into a Financial Battlefield
In the next story, a middle-class father agrees to buy a car for his daughter’s in-laws. But the EMI on that car slowly becomes a noose tightening around his throat, shaking the family’s dignity and peace.
⚠️ Disclaimer:
This series reflects fictionalized narratives based on real societal patterns. Names and incidents are altered for privacy but inspired by true challenges faced by families. Always seek professional financial and mental health guidance.
Finance World 
Leave a comment