The Indian Express ·
Crushed dreams: The 5 small-town boys who loved Delhi until it took their lives
They came from Auraiya, Dewas, Durg, Katni, Jhansi — 17-19 year-olds who thought Delhi would help them spread their wings far beyond their small towns. Until, one day, the big city came crashing down on them.
TO BE a 17-year-old in Delhi. For Pavan Yadav, that meant visits to gaming arcades, eyeing a supercar in a mall, tucking into Dolma Aunty’s momos that tasted so much better than the ones in his small-town Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh, and burrowing deep into his new Murakami book that he wouldn’t let his sisters touch.
“At home, he used to be so picky about food, but in Delhi, he had something good to say even about the mess food. He loved the city,” says Aparna, 25, the eldest of his four siblings.
But like many teenage loves, this wasn’t meant to be. The quiet boy from Auraiya, with a head full of curls and a love for all things tech, died on September 6 when the private hostel building they stayed in collapsed in Delhi, burying seven, five of them Delhi University (DU) students like him. Delhi had failed him, a little over a month after he had discovered the city.
