Two Engineers, One Celebration, and a Tragedy That Stole Their Future

New Delhi: Saturday night began as a celebration for Kapil and Nalin Rai. It ended with their deaths in the Saket building collapse.

The two had gathered with friends to celebrate. Kapil had just aced an interview and was on the cusp of securing a dream position at the prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). To mark the beginning of a bright future, the friends stepped into the mess for the very first time.

Less than half an hour later after they had placed their food order, tons of concrete came crashing down on them.

Back home in Bihar, where Nalin’s father is a farmer, the family had supported his moving to Delhi just months ago in pursuit of a better life.

Speaking with TOI, their friend, Ashutosh, who survived the building collapse, narrated how in an instant, a celebration of hard work and big dreams became a site of profound heartbreak. “We both lived in PG accommodations where meals were provided, but Kapil told us he wanted to treat us to a meal,” he said.

They had just ordered food when Nalin said he was going to get some curd, which he liked to have with parathas. Then within minutes, the building collapsed. Ashutosh narrowly escaped.

Kapil was from Rajasthan and had completed his BTech in mechanical engineering. He was preparing for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and was focused on building a career in the engineering sector. Friends at AIIMS described him as hardworking and ambitious. He had recently performed well in a BARC interview and was hopeful about his future.

Ashutosh and Nalin were both from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, and had studied in the same engineering college. They had maintainied their friendship after graduation.

Recalling their journey, Ashutosh said, “Nalin came to Delhi in Dec last year. On May 31 last year, we completed our BTech and celebrated the occasion together. Today, exactly a year later, the situation is completely different.”

He added that the tragedy was even more heartbreaking because Nalin’s birthday was just around the corner on June 2. “We were going to celebrate it. He could have easily secured a job, but he chose to prepare for the SSC Junior Engineer examination instead, hoping to build a career in govt service,” Ashutosh said.

He said he left Delhi for his hometown, traumatised by what had happened.

Priyanshu, a relative of Nalin’s, said the engineer’s body was found in the debris around 8am on Sunday.