The Night We Returned, Everything Changed.
We were barely awake, riding the exhaustion wave back from Banaras when Saini called. His voice was tense — said there was a massive crowd at the hostel gate, people shouting, chaos everywhere. I was too sleepy to process anything. Cut the call. Turns out, everyone else did the same. We thought it was a false alarm. Just another campus scene.
But when we reached, we saw it for real. A crowd so charged up, it looked like a riot waiting to happen. Hostel wardens stood frozen, shielded by guards. If the security hadn’t been there, it would’ve gone ugly.
Then came the blow: Two students had died. On the same day.
Rahul — died by suicide. On his birthday. He couldn’t cope with academic pressure. Akhil — his best friend — died hours earlier because of delay in medical response. Both from Andhra Pradesh. Both young. Both gone.
The next day, the campus lit up in silence with a candle march. But silence didn’t last. Protests began — students demanding answers, accountability, change. Demands for resignations, real reform. Instead? Just a compensation letter. No system change. No real justice. A committee was formed — again. A hollow routine. And when students refused to quiet down, threats followed — “Placements will be blocked.” “Suspensions.”
In the middle of it, I tried to speak up. Pushed for justice for the 8 students who were already facing harsh, unfair punishments. Got a message to the Director through a HoD. But… it still hangs in the air.
Justice is slow. Sometimes it never shows up. But stories like this — they need to be told. Because silence is how systems survive.
om shanti