// A digital archaeology project — 2025–2026

The Archaeology
of a Friend Group

Four WhatsApp groups. Seven people. One year. A complete map of how a friend circle forms, fractures, filters — and finds itself.

8,837Total Messages
4Group Chats
9Unique Members
376Active Days
// 01 — The Evolution

From one group
to four

Each group was born from the friction of the last. Hover nodes to explore. Solid lines = intentional creation. Dashed = toxic influence or merge.

// 02 — The Groups

Four chapters,
one story

Click any card to expand the full story of why it was created and how it ended.

Aaltu Faltu
Apr 2025 – Jul 2025
576messages
4members
29days
Dormant
Purpose: Pure hackathon war room. Krushna, Prasad, Nick, Rutuja built TutorBuddy for HackHazards 2025, then AutoScreen.AI for St. Palloti. Never a social group — just a coordination machine.

Why it faded: The hackathons ended. It never needed to die — it simply became unnecessary as conversation migrated to the bigger social groups.
Chill Out 😎
Apr 2025 – Aug 2025
3,039messages
8members
103days
Dead
Purpose: The full social circle. Born at RSOC 2025 hackathon at Raisoni College. 8 members, parties at Eternity, D-Mart runs, internship links, canteen splits. Peak college energy.

Why it died: Krishna Mishra and Nikita started dating. He began answering for her, pulling her from outings early, erasing her voice. The group didn't lose one person — it lost Nikita and inherited a gatekeeper. The remaining six left quietly.
Chilled Vibez 😎
Aug 2025 – Oct 2025
917messages
6members
40days
Dead
Purpose: The escape group. Created Aug 1. Prasad: "Why was this made?" Yash: "Because of Mishra and Nikita." Shravani's cover: notes were getting lost.

Why it faded: A bridge, not a destination. Once CIH was properly formed with Sachit added, all real conversation moved there. Lasted exactly as long as the transition needed — 40 days.
CIH
Feb 2025 – Present
4,305messages
7members
204days
Active
Purpose: The real group. Named after Central India Hackathon 3.0, where both teams got selected Jan 2026. Spans 13+ months of hackathons, exam panic, result days, birthdays, New Year, and everything in between.

Why it survived: Natural filtering. Everyone here survived the collapse and chose to rebuild. Sachit joined, bringing quieter energy. Less performance, more presence. The core seven — proven.
// 03 — Activity Timeline

Message volume
across time

Each column = one month. Hover for exact numbers. Notice the Chill Out explosion in Apr 2025, the Aug collapse, and CIH's steady rising heartbeat.

CIH Chill Out Chilled Vibez Aaltu Faltu
// 04 — The People

Who was where

Bar length = message count across all groups. Segments show which group each count belongs to. Hover for details.

CIH Chill Out Chilled Vibez Aaltu Faltu
// 05 — The Network

Who connects
to whom

Node size = total messages. Line thickness = shared group count. Drag to rearrange. Core seven are white — the others orbit in the dark.

// 06 — The Undercurrents

What the data
whispers

Deleted messages, birthday timing, reply sequences, spotted sightings — patterns that build a picture of the unsaid.

// 07 — The Patterns

What it all means

🔁
The Filtering Effect

Each group collapse was a natural selection event. The six who survived all four transitions — Krushna, Prasad, Yash, Shravani, Apurva, Rutuja — are the actual friend group. Everyone else was circumstantial.

📊
Krushna's Constant

The only member whose message count grew across every group: 305 → 1,209 → 307 → 983. He is the structural spine. Without him, none of these groups would exist or survive.

🔇
The Mishra Paradox

78 messages in Chill Out — the least of anyone — yet split the entire group. His impact wasn't in what he said, but in what Nikita stopped saying. The quietest disruptions do the most damage.

🗑️
Sachit's 28 Deletions

28 deleted messages in CIH — more than anyone else. Each one is a thought he had and changed his mind about. The most revealing thing about a person isn't what they say — it's what they almost said.

🎂
The Birthday Test

Sachit was the only person to wish Rutuja happy birthday on Mar 6 2025 — alone, at 9:24 PM, before anyone else noticed. He knew the date. Rutuja replied with exactly two smileys. Neither mentioned it again.

📉
Nikita's Disappearance

554 messages in Chill Out → 81 in Aaltu Faltu → 0 in CIH. That trajectory, mapped against Mishra's arrival, tells the whole story — without a single explicit conversation about it in any chat.

"The loudest ones take, the quietest ones stay — and the ones who stay are the ones who matter."
// The final conclusion