“Jay, will you put that thing down?”

It was Nirali. She was pretty frustrated at Jayson. It was not just the fact that it was his birthday today and he wasn’t treating them but it was his surprisingly, new obsession of his new i-Pod that his dad had gifted him. He was so hooked on to that sleek, little gadget that he would keep the ear hones plugged in, even when he was talking. That sometimes made him shout whatever he says because he can’t hear anything when he’s listening to 'loud, harsh noise’, considering his music taste.

Nirali was mad at him for not showing any major interest whatsoever in her. Ever since she got to know him, she had been secretly liking him. No one else in the group had any idea about it, except Meha, her best friend.

Meha was the one who introduced Jayson to Nirali. Meha was the ever-bubbly kind of girl who is always ever-interested in any thing or event that’s going on and ever-possessive about her guy, Abhishek.

Abhi is the guy who would do anything for his friends. Anything. Jayson and he were buddies since childhood. They spent their schooling and junior college days together and now in the degree college too. They met Nimish when they started college.

Nimish is the ‘wannabe’ type of a guy, who is forever on a quest for a girlfriend and that’s the reason he would always try his chance on Shreya.

Shreya is the ‘hot chick’ of the group. No one actually remembered how she became to be a part of them, but they never complained about being seen with her. She knew, at least ‘just knew’, everyone in the college.

Jayson looked up, making a grunt and removing his ear-plugs out he asked, “What?” Nirali said, “You’ve been listening to that shit since morning. Come on, just keep it inside and let’s have fun. It’s your birthday after all.” Abhi added. “Yeah dude, just shove it in your bag and let’s go somewhere.” Meha was already excited, “Yeah. By the way, where are you treating us?” Jayson raised his hands up high and said, “Guys, I ain’t got much dough on me now. I got some 500 bucks on me, that’s it.” Abhi put his arm around him and aid, “Dude, that’s ok. I’ve got a grand and a half with me. You give me later when you have it. Alright? Chill. So, where are you treating us now?” Jay asked, “Alright, where do you guys wanna go?” Nimish asked Shreya, “Hey, where do you wanna go? Suggest some good place.” Everyone looked at him in surprise and the Jay asked him, “Why do you just want to ask her, huh? Bastard. You won’t leave a single chance, will you? Anyways guys, how about going to TOTOS? We can just sit there and have some nice booze.” Nirali cut in, “Jay. I don’t drink, remember? On top if that Meha too is trying to quit it. We can go to CO’s. Those who want to drink can gulp down and the others can have some fun time too.” Shreya spoke for the first time, “That’s cool. Haven’t been there in quite some time now.” Abhi said, “That’s done man. CO’s it is.”

Meha pain for her juice and then they left the college canteen. They reached the station and had to wait for Shreya to buy her ticket. She had to buy a first class ticket because it was that peak time of the evening when the trains are jam packed. One can find just about some standing space and some fresh air to breathe only in the first class compartments. The others too had first class passes. They boarded the train at Charni Road, so they found some empty seats to sit down. Meha sat next to the window with her guy next to her. Jay sat next to him. Nirali was in front of Meha. She sat there first thinking Jay would sit next to her, but instead it was Nimish. He sat there so that Shreya was next to him. Jay had already submerged himself back into his music. This time it was Meha who noticed it and shouted, “Will you throw that thing away? Abhi, tell him to put that thing down. It’s so boring. Lets do something fun. We’ll play something. Ok listen. We’ll ask a question and everybody has to answer it. Alright?” By the time she finished speaking; Abhi had told Jay to put the i-Pod in then said, “Alright. Jay, ask the question.” Jay was surprised, “Who me?” “Then who else? You are the birthday boy today.” Nirali said smiling. Jay raised his left eyebrow up and after doing some thinking, said, “Ok. What would be the 2 things you want to do before you die?” Meha was let down by this and complained,”What a boring question. Change it.” But Nirali said, “It’s good. Shut up. Ok, who’ll go first?”

Shreya said, “I’ll go. One thing which I want to do before I die is to become famous.” Everyone agreed as they knew that she would someday make it as a model. She continued, “And the next thing I want to do is to go on a world trip on my own money.”

Nimish started speaking, “That’s cool. I’ll go next. One thing I want to do before I die is to go out on a date with Shreya and the next thing is to have sex.” This time everyone was again surprised at him, but were also shocked. They were aware of the different ways in which he would try to ask Shreya out for a date but they had no clue about the next craving developments. Meha was the first to speak up for a long time, “With her?” Nimish understood that he had been misunderstood and corrected himself, “No, no. Not with her. Generally.” Jay asked him wickedly, “So you don’t want to do it with her?” Nimish blushed and said, “It’s not like that. Come on guys. You’re taking this the wrong way. Chuck it. Nirali, just speak something, will you please.”

She stopped laughing and said, “Hmm, one thing that I want to do is to live at least one day without any sort of fear. The second thing is to be a child again.” “That was really good. Really, we miss our childhood days, don’t we? Anyways, Meha?” said Abhi. She said, “No you go first.”

Abhi said, “Alright. Hey where are we?” Nirali looked out and said, “Dadar. That was fast.” Abhi continued, Yeah. Alright. Two things that I want to do are bungee jumping and under water snorkeling.” Everyone knew how much he was into extreme sports and weren’t much surprised. Jay said, “Ok, Meha. It’s your turn now.”

She sat upright, but still holding Abhi’s arm, and said, “One thing is to get married to Abhi as soon as possible.” “Whoa. Slow down lady. There’s lots of time to think and talk about that.” Abhi snapped. Meha then said, “Alright. I’ll take that back. One thing is to surely quit drinking. And...Hmm... I’ll think of something good and huge. Ok. The next thing I want to do is to remove poverty and terrorism.” This time Jay snapped back, “Ha! Like that’s going to happen any time soon. It’s always been like this and it will always be. Its like a bloody leech, sucking out till nothing’s left.” Nirali tried to calm him down and said, “Chill Jay. Don’t get so excited. Ok, it’s your turn now. It’s almost Bandra.”

Jay started thinking. In his usual manner, raising his left eyebrow, scratching his chin with his left hand. At least he tried to think of something. When he could finally do that, he forgot it totally again. Everything went blank in his head. Everything went white. He couldn’t figure out anything. Couldn’t make out anything. All he could see is huge noise flying around him and all he could hear was red. The only thing he could smell was heat. That was all he could take and let himself free in the rushing tornado of souls.

He didn’t know how long he had been like this. The sharp pain by the strong pull in his arms and legs woke him up. He tried to open his, but was able to open up just his right eye. After shaking out the hazy view, he realized he was being carried by some strangers. Where, he didn’t know and why. After he was laid down, he tried to shout because of the pain in his limbs. But no voice was heard. He started to move his neck and looked around with his one-eyed vision. He saw people running away from him, people running towards him. He saw them carrying something heavy in huge groups. He couldn’t make out anything. He was confused as ever. Then he turned the other side and saw the train. The side of the compartment they were in was totally ripped off. There were bodies lying everywhere. It took sometime for him to grasp the effect of the situation, but once he did, he was even more scared than before. He started looking around frantically. He was looking for his friends. He couldn’t spot them anywhere. But finally when he looked towards his feet, he saw them. He saw them piled up amongst others, who had seen the same face of fate as they had. He just couldn’t take his eyes away from them. And when it started to rain, he just closed his eyes and cried. He cried as had never cried before.