Housewife Maira Tayyab has considered begging for money to feed her family in inflation-hit Pakistan, while shop owner Mohammad Hanif finds his thoughts turning to crime.
They're too proud and honest to act on the impulse, but their woes are shared by millions of Pakistanis whose disgruntlement threatens Prime Minister Imran Khan's chances of re-election next year.
"We cannot beg as we are white-collar people," Tayyab, 40, told AFP in Karachi, a bustling port city that is Pakistan's financial capital.
But, she said: "We don't know how we make ends meet."
Inflation hit about 10 percent last year, according to the World Bank. The cooking oil price is up 130 percent since Khan took power and the cost of fuel has risen 45 percent to 145 rupees ($0.82) a litre in a year.
Tayyab's sentiments are echoed by Kursheed Sharif, a 50-year-old mother of five, who unleashes a slew of curses as she describes her family's woes.
"Only death seems an alternative to survival under this government," she told AFP, close to tears, outside her unplastered rental shack.
Khan promised to sweep away decades of entrenched corruption and cronyism when his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party swept to power in 2018.
But his failure to deliver is already being felt at the polls, and last month the PTI was soundly thrashed in provincial elections in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stronghold.
"The government boasts about its economic feats, but in reality it has lost its ground and credibility," said Tauseef...
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