u/Remarkable-Charge599

Pata Hai Aaj Kya Hua, I saw her today for the first time in years, and I had to pull my car over because I couldn’t keep driving.

Edit 1: THERES NO WAY IT WENT VIRAL BRUH, I posted it and went to play basketball and I got back just now and see my phone blown up ahhhhh 😭😭😭 I'm dead, thanks yall. I'll read each and every comment and I'll also let y'all know what I do! Also everyone concerned about 2 or 3 words rather than the story 💀 I'll edit it for yall.

Edit 2: I read all of your comments 😭 thanks for everyone for taking time to read all of this and commenting, means a lot. Most of yall suggested that I reach out and see how it goes so yes imma do it when the post hits 1000 upvotes 😭😭😭😭 pls dont. I’ll let yall know if anything happens, hope for the best 🥀. PIG AND PIGLET ARE NICKNAMES GUYS RELAX.

I’m home in India for the summer. She lives about 200 meters from me, she always has. She was standing outside her building, waiting for a cab or a friend, looking exactly like I remembered. I parked on the side of the road and just looked at her for a while. Long enough to realize that if I stayed one more minute I’d get out, walk over, and say every single thing I’ve been carrying for six years. So I left before I could. She’s with someone now. I’m not trying to be that guy.

But I’ve been sitting with it all day, so I’m putting it somewhere.

We dated in 9th and 10th grade. About 15 months. We broke up at the start of 2020, over a few stupid fights that didn’t matter then and matter even less now. On paper it was nothing kids, first love, the whole cliche. Except she is the single reason my life looks the way it does.

Before her, I was just coasting. My dad built everything we have from basically nothing first-generation money, somewhere in the range of 50-100cr (not to flex), and I’m the first in my family to be properly educated. There was an easy road already paved for me: step into his construction and real estate business, stay comfortable for the rest of my life, never really try. I would have taken it without thinking twice. Comfortable and mediocre. That was the plan I didn’t even know I had.

Then this girl walked in. She had a South African accent, so she stood out the second she opened her mouth but that’s not what got me. It was that she was kind in a way I’d never actually seen in a person. She’d help literally anyone. Teachers loved her, guys and girls loved her, she was the light in every room. And for some reason she believed in me louder than I believed in myself.

She’s the one who told me I could do things when everyone else, including me, assumed I couldn’t. I remember we were talking about studying abroad once and I said something like, “Man, I could never do that leave everyone behind and build a whole life alone.” She just looked at me and said, “Why can’t you?”

That’s it. Three words.

I don’t think she has any idea those three words redirected my entire life. I’m in my final year of college in the US, about to start a career here. None of it exists without a 16 year old girl asking why I’d sold myself short. Without her, I’d be back home right now, running my dad’s business, comfortable and asleep.

And it wasn’t just that one moment it was everything, constantly, in a hundred small ways. She taught me to chase things I’d written off as impossible, and to keep going when everyone around me said I couldn’t. She taught me to live with actual purpose instead of just drifting through my days enjoying myself and taking nothing seriously.

She taught me to be gentle with people to be kind to everyone, even strangers, because you never know what someone’s quietly carrying inside. She taught me that being the best version of myself wasn’t arrogance, it was something to strive for every single day. Before her I was just a guy coasting through life. After her I couldn’t go back to being that person even if I tried. She packed the most important education of my life into 15 months, at an age when neither of us really understood what was happening and then it was over and she was gone.

Right before the end, on the 16th of February 2020, she sent me a text I’ve never deleted. She used to call me Piglet that was ours. She said I made her feel special, but I deserved someone who’d treat me better, that she didn’t even realize when she did things that hurt me. And then: *“If we’re meant to be together it’ll happen eventually. After we grow as people, if we meet again, we’ll see.”* Eight minutes later, one more line came through:

*“But don’t wait for me.”*

I think I’ve been waiting anyway. Six years, and some part of me never stopped.

I’ve dated a lot of people since. I’ve never connected with any of them the way I did with her. At some point in every relationship I realize I can’t give the person my whole self, and it feels unfair to them, so I pull back and it ends. Same thing, over and over. I have her birthday tattooed on my left hand as you can see in the picture. not because I haven’t moved on, but because I never want to forget who woke me up. She made me who I am, and she isn’t around to see any of it.

I never got closure, and I think that’s the whole thing. Part of me has always wanted one last conversation to say thank you, to say *you have no idea what you did for me*, to put it to rest. But she has her own life now, and showing up to unload six years of feelings onto her wouldn’t be closure. It’d just be me handing her my weight to carry.

So here’s the part I can’t make peace with. I have the life she told me I could have. I crossed an ocean, I built the thing she said I was capable of, I became the person she saw before I could see him. And she’s the one person who’ll never know she did it. I got everything except the one conversation where I get to turn around and say: *this was you. All of it was you.*

Maybe some people come into your life just to light a fire, and then they leave once it’s burning never staying long enough to feel the warmth of it. I hope, wherever she is, some of that heat reached her anyway. I hope she got every big dream she used to talk about. And if life ever puts us on the same road again, even for five minutes, I just want to say thank you before I let her go for good.

She was the closest anyone ever got to my heart. She always will be.

And I never even got to say goodbye properly just “don’t wait for me,” eight minutes after the truth.

I hope no one that knows me irl sees this post or else I’m cooked.

TLDR: Dated a girl for 15 months in 9th-10th grade, broke up in early 2020. She’s the entire reason I stopped coasting toward the easy life at home and went abroad “Why can’t you?” was all it took. Now I’m finishing college in NY, built the exact life she said I could, but she’ll never know she’s the reason. Saw her today for the first time in years, 200 meters from my house, and had to pull my car over. Never got closure.

I’m 22M, studying in the US, came back to Bangalore for the summer thinking I’d just slot back into life here. One week in and I’m realizing something I genuinely didn’t expect this city is one of the loneliest places I’ve ever been, and I don’t think it’s just my problem. I shouldn’t be feeling this way because I this is where I grew up but after I left India for college shit just changed I guess.

Here’s the situation. My old school friend group basically doesn’t exist anymore. Some of them I had a falling out with over stupid stuff that I’m pretty sure I’ll never fully resolve or maybe we could resolve it but thats just too much time and effort. The rest are working 9 to 5 corporate jobs, exhausted by Friday and giving random excuses to not meet during the weekends like bunch of clowns.

So I tried to make new friends. And what I discovered is that Bangalore has no infrastructure for this if you’re past college and not in a corporate office full of 24-year-olds.

I tried Playo cause I’m into basketball. The games are great and I get to play the sport I love and pass time atleast. The actual playing part works. But the second the game ends, people pack up and leave. Nobody’s there to make friends they’re there to get their cardio in and head home before traffic gets worse which is valid imo. I’ve played four games and don’t know a single person’s name properly lmao. HMU if any of yall wanna run some basketball games.

And the city itself doesn’t help. Bangalore in 2026 is set up for one of three lifestyles: you’re working, you’re in a relationship, or you’re in college. No idea how people manage to meet new people and make genuine connections like fr. I’m genuinely confused. I’m from here. I have a phone full of contacts. I have money to spend on coffees and meals. And I still can’t figure out how to meet new people in my own city without it feeling like a job interview or a dating app.

So my actual question to this sub: if you moved to Bangalore without a network, or came back after being away, what actually worked for you? Not the generic stuff not “join a hobby class” or “be more outgoing.” What specifically did you do that led to actual friendships? Specific places, specific groups, specific apps, specific routines. I’ll take anything.

And to anyone else feeling this, please say so in the comments. If this problem actually exists then maybe we could come up with something fun and interesting if not I’m delusional and will prolly just dread the time left and go back to US 💀. If anyone wanna chill dm regardless of the gender 😂

PS: the pic is the view from the room 🕊️

Hey everyone,

I'm a 21-year-old college student in NJ, originally

from India. Planning to fly back in a week to spend 3

months building a startup full-time. Before I commit

to this and burn months of my life, I want real data

on whether the idea has demand.

The idea: an app where premium restaurants in your city

sell their end-of-day surplus food in "surprise bags"

roughly ₹179 for ~₹500 worth of food. You preorder,

walk over to pick it up between 9:30-11 PM, get a

mystery bag of whatever didn't sell.

One Indian startup (DabbaDeals/Surokki) tried and shut down after 100

days, so the path isn't easy.

I made a survey which takes less than 3 minutes to figure

out:

- Whether real demand exists in Indian cities

- What the biggest objections would be

- Whether the pickup-only model works here

This the link to the survey (PLEASE HELP):
https://forms.gle/DJ6xghwFHnZrnna59

Brutal answers welcome. If you'd never use this, I want

to know that. If you would, even better. Either way,

the data shapes whether I build this or kill it.

Will post the aggregated results back here in 2 weeks

once I have enough responses.

Thanks for the time 🙏

---

Edit: For anyone curious about the idea, happy to chat

in DMs or comments.