Every night, Sameer took the last bus home, mostly empty except for a few tired strangers and the hum of tires on wet road. He'd moved to the city for work, chasing opportunity, and found himself surrounded by eight million people and speaking to almost none of them.

His phone was full of contacts, but few felt like anyone he could call at 11 p.m. just to talk. He'd scroll through group chats that had gone quiet, old friendships that had drifted into "we should catch up sometime" purgatory.