Khushi Mundhada, 24, is the picture of a self-affirming, hard-working woman. She likes money. She likes to earn it, even borrow it when needed. Most of all, she knows the importance of a good CIBIL score. The threat of it going down haunts her every month, on the particular date her loan EMI is due. “It is the single most stressful day of the month, but the stress doesn’t stop there, it’s ever-looming,” says the Amravati native.

After a year in the UK pursuing a Master’s degree in Marketing, Mundhada moved to Mumbai in November for her first in-office job as a content writer. The first thing she wants as she enters her new home in the city is a warm cup of tea. “My grandmother makes the most amazing tea, I can’t start my day without it,” she says. “My family is big on rituals, my grandmother makes me tea every day, my mother is an artist so we paint together a lot. She even painted my first-day-at-work blazer.”