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Natural actor, gifted storyteller: Best friends recall most loyal of buddies who died by suicide

What the boy’s closest friends, a group of eight boys in his batch, remember the most was his penchant — and talent — for acting. They recalled vividly his performance in a school skit in which he played a boy who takes to vaping due to the stress of examinations.

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Nov 22, 2025 10:32 AM IST

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Students and their parents hold a protest outside St Columba's School on Friday. Photos: (Amit Mehra)

During a value education period at St Columba’s School in New Delhi earlier this month, a student of Class 10 scribbled busily in his notebook. He was writing the script of a classroom skit that he titled Dulha Bana Badmash, “The Groom Who Became a Gangster”. It was his extracurricular assignment — “What’s your favorite film?” — and he was clearly enjoying himself.

“He could write scripts on demand, and did it so well,” a close friend of the boy told on Friday.

“Film is something he always wanted to do.” The skit, the boy’s friends said, was a breezy, exaggerated endorsement of Bhojpuri comedy cinema, filled with dramatic pauses and sharp one liners. It was a two-actor play, and the boy gave himself a particularly punchy line that had the class in splits.

Their teachers found the play a bit too irreverent, though. “We were not allowed to perform it in the classroom, so he came up with an alternative — a speech describing himself,” another of the boy’s friends said. He gave that speech in school on November 18. Later that afternoon, some of the friends got calls saying he could not be found. “We thought he was upset about something that may have happened in school, so we went looking for him,” a friend said. They searched Metro stations, calling out his name, but the boy could not be found. As dusk fell, the friends got the news. The boy was no more. He had jumped to his death at Rajendra Place Metro station.

What the boy’s closest friends, a group of eight boys in his batch, remember the most was his penchant — and talent — for acting. They recalled vividly his performance in a school skit in which he played a boy who takes to vaping due to the stress of examinations.

“His timing, his gestures, the way he built a scene… The whole class clapped,” one of the friends said. “His acting blew my mind.”

In short films that he recorded casually with his friends, the boy also went behind the camera — narrating, laughing, directing. “His voice could light up a dull afternoon,” a classmate said.

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The boy also told beautiful stories. On school trips especially, classmates waited eagerly for him to begin, and hung upon every word. His friends remember a night in Jim Corbett last year, when he told stories of ghosts that made them huddle together in the small hotel room.

There was a naturally caring and loyal side to the boy. If someone forgot their tiffin, he quietly split his. If a classmate got into trouble, he stepped forward to share the blame.

The boy’s one insecurity was about his weight. “He was very skinny,” a friend said. “People would make fun of him and call him names because he was so thin.”

Another friend said the boy had told him, ‘You lose weight and I’ll put on weight and build my body.’ “He would get healthy fats for lunch every day. He brought extra rotis, and he planned to hit the gym regularly after the exams got over,” the friend said.

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The boy played basketball, ran relay races, and won medals. He danced with abandon, practised his poses, and sent his friends funny memes. Now that he is gone, those memories seem clearer, the friends said. “On my birthday last year, we went to Pacific Mall,” a friend said. “He started cracking jokes with the cab driver. He was always outgoing, always looking out for his friends, and always trying to make more friends.”

How would the boy’s friends remember him? “As the funniest boy,” said one. “He used to make everyone laugh. He was such a genuine person.”

To the boy’s closest friends in school, he appears as fragments of memory — the offer of bhindi from his lunchbox, a joke tossed at a taxi driver, a ghost story told during a school trip, a dramatic line from a script written minutes before class.

Vidheesha Kuntamalla

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: * Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs * Policy responses to campus mental health * Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University * Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t (February 2025) ‘Ma’am… may I share something?’ Growing up online and alone, why Delhi’s teens are reaching out (December 2025) ... Read More

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