The Man Who Sat Next to a Star and Felt Nothing Dreams of Deutschland Karthik was twenty-four when he left Chennai for Germany in 2019. His father, a retired railway clerk in Tambaram, had sold his wife's gold bangles to pay for the flight and first semester fees. His mother packed him three boxes of murukku and cried at the airport like he was going to war. "Study well, get a good job, send for us when you can," she whispered, adjusting his collar one last time. Karthik studied mechanical engineering at Technical University of Munich. He worked part-time washing dishes at an Indian restaurant in Schwabing, lived in a shared flat with five other students where the heating never worked properly, and survived on pasta and the occasional dosa he'd make himself, crying a bit because it never tasted like his amma's. He passed his exams. He got his degree. He thought the hard part was over. He was wrong. When the Dream Became a Nightmare Month after month, Karthik a...
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