On 2 June 2014, the opening of undergraduate admissions at the University of Delhi produced long queues at all eighteen centres selling application forms in New Delhi. Contemporary reporting by NDTV and PTI said 32,460 forms were sold on the first day alone, while students and parents waited their turn in intense heat. An online route existed, but the website slowed and people continued to gather at the counters for paper forms.
What waited at the end of the line was not admission or a classroom, but the first sheet of paper needed to compete. There were 54,000 places, and although the gateway was divided between paper and the internet, both routes had limited capacity. A system for choosing a future began by asking applicants to wait at a summer window—a small scene that made both the demand for education and the entrance before the entrance visible.
Quality check: NDTV/PTI reporting dated 2 June 2014 records long lines at all eighteen centres, waiting students and parents, and the first-day form total in the same account.