“Nitya!!?” asked a dumbfounded Nandan.

Just then a deafening noise tore apart and the line went muted. Successive and frantic redials hit a dead-end.

Shortly thereafter Nandan’s mobile phone rang.

The caller-id read Grandma. “Nandan, you are at home, right? Turn on the news channel on TV.” she urged Nandan.

Nandan half-heartedly turned on the TV and the news channel was covering a tragedy – an explosion in a train coach that had departed Bangalore City Station just hours ago.

Next morning, leading newspapers carried the horrific news in its front-page:

Authorities have released the names of those killed in the train coach explosion incident: Rahul Fernandez, 34; Grace Thomas, 62; Nathan D’Silva, 49; Nitya Shankar, 29; Neha Rai, 27; Raj Singh, 44; Maria Rodriguez, 52.

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