SINGAPORE: A frustrated man took to Reddit to share that his mum constantly demanded money from him the moment he became an adult and started working full-time.

In a post titled “Life is too tiring” on the r/asksg subreddit, he said his mum kept “hounding” him to give her money and even asked him to “pay her back for all the food” she bought for him when he was growing up.

She also cut him off financially the moment he graduated from polytechnic at 21. From shampoo and clothes to family holidays and daily expenses, he claimed nothing was paid for anymore. Every little thing came out of his own pocket, which left him feeling more drained than independent.

“I even have to use my own money to buy the things that I never got to buy when I was young and go to the places that I never got to go to when I was young,” he added.

As if that was not stressful enough, he also alleged that his mum told him to “buy his own house at 35” while still expecting him to keep handing over money in the meantime.

His situation became even tougher after he lost his job about a year ago. Since then, he said he has been struggling financially and can no longer keep up with the constant financial expectations, let alone save enough to think about buying a home.

Although he is currently pursuing a part-time degree in hopes of improving his prospects, he said he still feels stuck and hopeless, as his job applications have so far not led to any real opportunities.

“Your mum is not asking for much”

In the comments section, many users surprisingly sided with the mother, arguing that it is fairly common in Asian households for parents to stop financially supporting their children once they become adults.

One commenter wrote, “Ehhh, sorry to hear about your work, but not getting an allowance after you graduate, using your own money to buy things, go places when you are old is normal?”

Another added a bit sarcastically, “Wow. So many permanent children whining about not getting an allowance after 21 and being expected to—*gasp*—pay for their own toiletries.”

A third wrote, “Entitled kid…. your mum is not asking for much, you know that right?”

Meanwhile, another pointed out that parents also have to think about their own future and retirement.

“Your mom is getting on in age, I assume. She also needs to plan for her retirement. You cannot possibly be sponging off her until she is old, right?”

Still, not everyone dismissed the man’s frustrations. A handful of users said they could relate to the pressure of balancing Asian family expectations while struggling financially themselves.

One shared, “Same boat, Asian parent expectations with zero support. House at 35 when you’re still fighting just to land a damn job is wild. Failing endless interviews too; finding work now is just insanely hard.”

Another said, “Cut your [mother] off as soon as you find your financial footing—moving out would do wonders for your well-being if you can afford it. All the best.”

In other news, a 33-year-old man has sparked discussion online after sharing that he spends 10 to 12 hours with his 32-year-old girlfriend during each meetup twice a week, while also footing almost every bill.

In a Reddit post, the man said he started wondering whether their relationship dynamics were actually normal after feeling increasingly drained “emotionally, physically, and financially.”

Read more: ‘Is this normal?’: Man says he meets girlfriend for 10–12 hours twice weekly and pays every bill

This article (‘I had to pay her back for food’: Son says mum constantly demanded money after he became an adult) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

MUMBAI, May 17 — India is scrambling to salvage a sinking rupee as surging oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict threaten to disrupt the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

The currency has dropped more than five per cent since the crisis erupted in February, extending losses from 2025 and making it Asia’s worst-performing major currency in 2026 so far.

It hit a record low of over 96 to the dollar on Friday, prompting officials to signal that halting further depreciation is a key macroeconomic priority.

India’s central bank has already poured billions of dollars to stabilise the currency, curbed speculative trading and offered a special credit line to oil importers to ease dollar demand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also urged voluntary austerity measures to rein in dollar-guzzling imports, including cutting down on gold buying and foreign travel for a year.

But the pressure persists.

“The whole system has been disturbed,” said Dilip Parmar of stockbroker HDFC Securities, citing heavy foreign investor outflows, weaker growth prospects and elevated crude prices.

“That is the basic problem which you’re seeing replicated in the fall of the rupee,” he said, noting that it was ultimately “a function of demand and supply” with dollar demand being higher.

The rupee’s slide comes as India faces a widening current account deficit driven by costly energy imports.

The gap is likely to be over two per cent of GDP this fiscal year, more than double last year’s level and potentially the widest since 2012-13, according to Bank of America Securities estimates.

Widening deficit 

At the same time, foreign investors have dumped more than US$20 billion (RM79.11 billion) in Indian stocks since the start of the Mideast conflict, the fastest pace on record, while dollar inflows have slowed, opening the possibility of a balance-of-payments gap as large as US$67-88 billion (RM265-RM348 billion).

The 2027 fiscal year “will be our third year of a balance-of-payment deficit, which is certainly unusual,” economist Dhiraj Nim of ANZ Research told AFP.

This strain has weighed on the rupee, prompting the central bank to defend it by burning through foreign exchange reserves – now at around US$697 billion (RM2.76 trillion), down from over US$720 billion (RM2.84 trillion) before the Middle East war.

While still covering about 11 months of imports, the decline underscores the strain.

A weaker rupee is rippling through the domestic economy.

Manufacturers and food processors, many dependent on imported raw materials priced in dollars, are seeing costs surge.

Smaller firms often lack the ability to hedge currency risks.

In Kerala’s cashew industry, which mostly imports raw nuts from Africa, the impact has been acute.

“Imports have become far more expensive for the local market,” said Rajmohan Pillai, who runs a cashew firm, adding buyers can now afford only about 90 per cent of last year’s volumes.

He estimates more than 80 per cent of processing units have shut in recent years, with rupee volatility a contributing factor.

‘Last straw’ 

India’s currency decline has also hit students looking to study abroad.

Education consultants say studying in the United States now costs more than one million rupees (US$10,450; RM41,335) extra compared with a year ago.

“This is the last straw,” said Meghna Sen, a 17-year-old aspiring psychology student.

“Now we have to track (the rupee) movement to check how much we need for our grocery budgets.”

The depreciation has punctured India’s ambition to become the world’s third-largest economy.

Modi, who once criticised his predecessors over currency weakness, has seen India’s global economic ranking dented because GDP comparisons are measured in dollars.

The country has slipped behind the United Kingdom to the sixth place according to IMF data, largely due to the rupee’s fall.

Nomura analysts warn more drastic measures may be on the anvil.

These include possible fuel price hikes, tighter controls on overseas remittances and steps to attract dollar deposits from non-resident Indians – a playbook used in past crises.

Still, economists caution that intervention can only smooth volatility, not reverse underlying pressures.

“Fundamental factors” remain to be resolved, Nim said, adding “I would not even rule out an interest rate hike which squarely targets future inflation”.

The Reserve Bank of India knows what its options are, he said.

“All that remains is to see what it decides to choose.” — AFP

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/DUBAI, May 16 — US President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though China gave no indication it would weigh in.

Flying back from Beijing yesterday after two days of talks with Xi, Trump said he was considering whether to lift US sanctions on Chinese oil companies buying Iranian oil. China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.

“I’m not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump said when asked by a reporter on Air Force One whether Xi had made a firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the vital strait.

Xi did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry expressed frustration with the Iran war, calling it a conflict “which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”

‘We want the straits open’

Iran effectively shut the strait, which carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply before the US and Israel launched attacks on February 28. The disruption to shipping has caused the biggest oil supply crisis in history, sending oil prices skyrocketing.

Thousands of Iranians were killed during the US and Israeli air strikes, and thousands have been killed in Lebanon in renewed fighting there between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

The US paused its attacks last month but began a port blockade. Tehran said it would not unblock the strait until the US ended its blockade. Trump has threatened to resume attacks if Iran does not agree to a deal.

“We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon, we want the straits open,” Trump said in Beijing, alongside Xi.

Iran, which has long denied that it intends to build a nuclear weapon, has refused to end nuclear research or relinquish its hidden stockpile of enriched uranium, to Trump’s frustration.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had received messages from the US indicating Washington was willing to continue talks.

“We hope that, with the advancement of negotiations, we will reach a good conclusion so that the Strait of Hormuz can be completely secured and we can expedite the normalisation of traffic through the strait,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

Trump, who told Fox News’ “Hannity” program in an interview aired on Thursday that he was losing patience with Iran, said Tehran “should make a deal.”

Oil prices rose around 3 per cent to around US$109 a barrel yesterday on concerns over a lack of progress in resolving the conflict, while US Treasury yields hit their highest in around a year on expectations the Federal Reserve might need to raise interest rates.

Talks on ending the war, which has become a liability for Trump ahead of US congressional elections in November, have been on hold since last week when Iran and the US each rejected the other’s most recent proposals.

Iran would welcome Chinese input, Araqchi said yesterday, adding that Tehran was trying to give diplomacy a chance but did not trust the US, which has curtailed previous rounds of talks by launching air strikes. — Reuters