A mother still waiting for her 19-year-old son to walk through the door, a friend holding on to a plan to attend a concert together; but for DU student Arpit, one of the seven people killed in a building collapse in southwest Delhi, those ordinary plans have been frozen in time, leaving behind only fragments of a life abruptly cut short.The building, which housed a boys’ paying guest accommodation in Satya Niketan area near Delhi University’s South Campus, collapsed around 1.30 pm on Jattvibeday while repair work was under way. Twelve people were rescued from the debris, of whom seven died.Arpit, a second-year student of DU’s Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm College, had returned to Delhi from his home in Madhya Pradesh on Jattvibeday morning after spending Rakshabandhan with his family. His last conversation with his mother, who was later admitted to AIIMS after losing consciousness, was around 12.30 pm.Every call that followed went unanswered.For Arpit’s mother, the tragedy is still impossible to comprehend.The moment she saw her 19-year-old son’s body, she collapsed and lost consciousness. She had to be admitted to AIIMS. Even after she woke up, she remained overwhelmed by shock, unable to believe that her son was gone.Crying inconsolably, she kept repeating that she would not eat until Arpit came home and fed her with his own hands—holding on to the smallest, most ordinary ritual of their lives as if it could somehow make his absence untrue.Days earlier, she had tried to keep him from returning to Delhi after Rakshabandhan, gripped by a fear that something might happen to him.“At the railway station, his sister sneezed, which I considered an ominous sign, and I told him not to travel. But he insisted that his ticket was confirmed and that his classes were also about to start,” she told PTI.He left despite her pleas.The decision has now left her grappling with guilt. “Why did I let him come to Delhi? I had a feeling that something bad would happen,” she said, breaking down.For his friend Sanskar (20), who had been studying in the same class as Arpit for the past one-and-a-half years, the news was difficult to comprehend. Arpit had told him after boarding the train on Saturday evening that he was on his way back to Delhi.“We were very close. He was one of the best people I had ever met. Both he and I arrived in Delhi on the same day. He was celebrating Rakshabandhan with his family. He had even told me that we would go to a concert in Delhi University,” Sanskar told PTI.The two friends were also supposed to attend college on Monday.“We were supposed to go to college today, but fate had different plans,” he said, as several of Arpit’s friends gathered outside the hospital, struggling to hold back their tears.Arpit’s friends had spent hours searching for him after learning about the collapse.Mayank, a student of Kirori Mal College, said he learnt about the incident from a friend and immediately rushed to the spot.“We rushed to find him but he was missing. We called his mother and asked her not to send him back from Madhya Pradesh as his PG building had collapsed. But she told us that he had already left on Saturday evening,” he said.The group then rushed to AIIMS after being told that those rescued from the debris were being brought there.“We immediately came to AIIMS because we were told that people were being brought here. We have not left since then. His family identified him around 9 am,” Mayank said.For those who knew Arpit from his hometown, his future had appeared full of promise.Raj Vardhan, who knew Arpit from their hometown and had been his junior in school, said he was pursuing a B.Com programme at the college and preparing for the Chartered Accountancy examinations.“He was pursuing B.Com and also preparing for Chartered Accountancy. His elder sister is also doing CA,” Vardhan said.The collapse has left Arpit’s friends mourning not only a fellow student but also plans that will now remain unfinished – a college day that never came, a concert that will never be attended together and a young man who had only just returned to Delhi to resume his studies.The owner of the building, identified as Hariram Gupta, was apprehended from Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi area on Monday, Delhi Police said.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel said Gupta was apprehended from Bhiwadi and further examination in connection with the case was under way.Police have registered a case against the building owner and others, while a magisterial inquiry has also been ordered.