They say Delhi belongs to people with big hearts, to lovers, while Mumbai belongs to dreams, desires, and aspirations.
But is everything still the same today, or has something changed?
In this growing modernity, somewhere these dreams narrate someone's horrifying reality, and somewhere they expose deception and fraud.
Delhi University!
A prestigious college of Delhi, where only the rich and influential families of Delhi study, or those who can afford the fees get admission.
A normal middle-class person cannot even imagine coming here.
Because the fees of a three-year course here are double what a normal lower-middle-class person cannot earn even in ten years.
However, every year the college admits five students through a scholarship program.
Under this program, more than one-third of their fees are waived and they are provided quality education.
It was through this scholarship program that our hero, Krish Prabhakar, got admission into this college.
His pocket and his fate were both torn apart. Poor guy!
People lovingly called him the king of the poor. That's not without reason—the entire college knew him.
If by chance he ever found even a counterfeit coin, saying that his "coin ruled the entire college" would still be an exaggeration.
Now this is a very normal thing—if someone's fate is weak, and their pocket turns out weak too, what is there to be surprised about?
It's a classic case of "adding insult to injury."
And if we talk about Krish, the flour wasn't just wet—it was completely washed away.
---
In the darkness of the night, on the deserted streets of Delhi,
some people were chasing a boy.
That boy was none other than our king of the poor, Krish Prabhakar.
Some thieves were after him, because the poor thieves thought that this gentleman—who looked like a beggar—might still have some money.
It wasn't entirely their fault either. In the darkness of the night, Krish's miserable condition wasn't clearly visible, and on top of that, when someone protects a ten-rupee note as if it were a thousand-rupee bill, even we would get suspicious—let alone thieves.
In the darkness of the night, Krish was protecting that ten-rupee note more than his own life, running and dodging the thieves as if it were a treasure.
But our "fortunate" Krish was finally caught in a deserted alley.
When Krish realized that he was completely surrounded and had no way to escape, he started shouting loudly and threatening them with the police to scare them away.
"Look! I'm saying this for the last time—let me go or I'll file a police complaint!"
"You don't know me yet. I have connections far and wide. My uncle is in the police…"
Before Krish could say anything more, two boys from the gang grabbed him while the third began searching his pockets.
When Krish realized that whatever little money he had left would now be gone, he started threatening them about getting them sent to jail.
Before he could even finish his threat, the third guy found the ten-rupee note.
When that guy pulled the money out and saw it, he was stunned and blurted out,
"What is this?"
"You made us chase you all this time for a ten-rupee note?"
"You even threatened us with the police?"
"Hey bastard, who do you think you are?"
"Is this some kind of joke? Do we look like clowns that you've been fooling us all this time?"
The third guy shouted angrily.
He was so furious that he couldn't control himself and pulled out a knife from his pocket—to scare Krish and force him to reveal if he had any more money.
But it was his bad luck that he chose to chase Krish that night.
---
When Krish saw their anger, his breath tightened, and he nervously said,
"P-p-please… let me go."
"I don't have anything else to give you. That was all I had, and you already took it."
He requested them repeatedly, but they didn't listen. They were already angry from the chase, and Krish's words only irritated them further.
They searched him again but found nothing. Frustrated, they beat Krish badly and left him there in a miserable condition.
After taking such a beating, he lost consciousness.
Some time later, the sound of a phone ringing woke him up.
As he regained consciousness, he looked around for his phone but couldn't find it. Because of the pain, he couldn't even search properly.
Suddenly, the phone rang again. Following the sound, he found his phone near a pile of garbage in a dark corner.
It was a Nokia keypad phone, which is why it was still intact even after being thrown.
In fact, when the men had surrounded him earlier, he had taken advantage of the darkness and randomly thrown his phone to save it from being stolen—and he succeeded.
But in all this, he had narrowly escaped death.
Everything seemed normal now, and he had his phone back.
When Krish looked at it, he saw an incoming call from an unknown number.
Seeing the unknown number, he unwillingly picked up the call.
But the moment he put the phone to his ear, he was shocked.
On the other side, he heard Asher and Noah.
They were Krish's classmates—the ones who constantly harassed and bullied him at the university.
Hearing their voices, his entire life flashed before his eyes. Thinking about it, he said to himself:
"It's been five years since I came here, yet it still feels like I'll never escape this hell."
"I spent twelve years of hell in my school life. Even my family ignored me. They never accepted me as their son in front of others.
They kept me away so they wouldn't feel ashamed of my looks and my ugly, fat body."
"My father used to beat me whenever I called him 'father' and forced me to call him 'uncle.'
My mother abused me constantly and often didn't even give me food."
"After spending twelve years in that hell, I finally got hope that if I stayed away from them and lived somewhere else, my life might improve.
But this place is the same hell that I'm forced to endure."
"I thought my life would get better here, but after coming here I realized I can't run from my fate, nor can I escape it."
---
Poor Krish endured everything silently because he didn't have the courage to raise his voice or take a stand for himself.
Not only Asher and Noah, but there was also a third guy—Peter.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that Asher and Noah only acted powerful because of him, and it was because of Peter that Krish was bullied.
When Krish heard Asher and Noah on the phone, he panicked so badly that the phone slipped from his hand without him realizing it.
When he picked it up in panic, the phone had switched off due to the fall.
The conversation ended before it could even begin.
He tried switching it on several times, but it wouldn't turn on, which scared him even more.
Just thinking about tomorrow terrified him.
After muttering nervously for a while in that deserted alley, Krish composed himself and headed home.
At home, he lived with an old grandmother. Technically, she was his landlady, but she cared for him like her own child.
They lived on different floors, yet they looked after each other.
---
Delhi University
Around 10 a.m., Krish was sitting in his class when Asher came to his seat. The moment Asher entered, the entire class fell silent.
As Asher walked toward Krish, the students watched with amusement. Ignoring everyone, Asher grabbed Krish by the hair and dragged him outside.
Krish writhed in pain, desperately trying to free himself, but Asher held his hair tightly.
"Bastard! Come on—your father's calling you."
"How dare you cut the boss's call last night? Do you want to die?"
The entire class watched them for entertainment. Soon, Asher dragged Krish into the university washroom, where Peter was already waiting.
As soon as they arrived, Peter shouted,
"Hey rhinoceros! You're here."
"I've been waiting for you. Now hurry up and light my cigarette."
Hearing Peter's growling voice, Krish panicked and rushed forward to light the cigarette.
But before he could take two steps, Noah tripped him.
Krish lost balance and fell onto Peter.
Peter became furious. Seeing his anger, Krish was terrified—his tongue felt stuck.
As Krish crawled backward in fear, Peter grabbed him by the collar, lifted him up, and threw him back.
Krish was badly injured. His wounds from the previous night hadn't healed yet, and now this new pain added to it.
He immediately started apologizing,
"P-p-please forgive me. I didn't do it on purpose."
"Please let me go. I beg you."
His apologies had no effect. Peter sat back down, put the cigarette in his mouth, and signaled Krish to light it.
Krish immediately lit the cigarette.
After taking a few drags, Peter gestured again.
Understanding the signal, Krish sat in front of him with his hands stretched out—like a beggar.
In reality, he was being used as an ashtray.
Peter dropped the cigarette ash into Krish's hands.
After finishing the cigarette, Peter pressed the burning stub into Krish's palm, burning him badly.
Because of the pain, some ash spilled onto Peter's shoes. Seeing this, Peter kicked Krish away.
Krish sat silently in a corner, groaning in pain. No one cared—instead, the three of them laughed at him.
---
Before Krish could even recover, Peter stood up to use the toilet and called Krish over, ordering him to hold his "tool."
"Hey rhinoceros! Come here."
"Hold my tool—daddy needs to relieve himself."
As Peter said this, Asher and Noah burst into loud laughter.
Hearing this, Krish dragged himself toward Peter. When he reached him and understood what was being said, he clenched his fists in disgust and helplessness.
Hearing the words about holding his tool, he froze for a moment. He couldn't understand whether he heard it correctly or not.
He looked up at Peter, but seeing his terrifying eyes, he staggered.
When Peter saw him taking too much time, he shouted angrily,
"Didn't you hear me? I need to relieve myself."
Seeing Peter's rage, Krish was forced—against his will—to comply.
Tears streamed continuously from his eyes. Because of the pain, he couldn't even sit properly.
Yet, suppressing everything, he was forced to hold Peter's tool.
At last, Krish could no longer hold himself together. Overwhelmed by pain and shame, he lost consciousness and collapsed.
The moment he fainted, Peter glared at him angrily. After finishing what he was doing, he kicked Krish hard and said with a smirk,
"Bastard, he disconnects the call. He'll disconnect his father's call too."
Muttering angrily, he walked away from there.
What Krish faced today crossed every possible limit of bullying. Not only the other kids, but even his own silence had been encouraging the bullying he was enduring.
Today's incident shattered Krish completely and pushed him toward taking a wrong step.
He wanted to leave everything behind and go far away—very far—where that moment of his life, that painful chapter, would be miles away from him. This hell-like life of his felt as if it was finally breathing its last.
As soon as the three boys stepped out of the washroom, a loud crashing sound suddenly echoed from inside. The sound was so intense that every child standing outside heard it.
The moment they heard it, fear and shock took over, and they ran inside. As soon as they entered, they were left stunned.
The window in front of them was shattered, and Krish was nowhere to be seen.
Sensing something terrible, all the children ran toward the broken window. The sight outside left their mouths hanging open in shock.
"What just happened?" one child said trembling in fear. "He jumped down… did he die—"
Before he could finish, another boy stopped him.
"Stay quiet… do you want to die too?"
All the whispers around felt like mechanical noise in Krish's ears. He wasn't in a condition to understand anything.
"What happened? How did I fall down here? Am I going to die…
No… save me!"
He screamed inside, but there was no one who could hear his voice.
Suddenly, everything started turning black before his eyes, and in panic, he jolted awake.
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