It was a dream come true for Anishka when she secured admission to Maitreyi College in Delhi University’s South Campus. She comes from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and the opportunity to study and live in Delhi came with hopes of transitioning from small town to big city life. Little did she realize that she would have to begin her journey amidst the squalor of Satya Niketan’s narrow lanes in Delhi.

Thousands of students every year make it to  Delhi University (DU) but due to the scarcity of  hostel accommodation they end up as paying guests in structurally fragile buildings with almost negligible civic amenities. It was one of those buildings in Satya Niketan, ‘Hostel Daze’, that collapsed recently, leaving several young students dead and drawing national attention to Delhi’s poor urban governance.