Part 1

After a long tiring day of work, Ramesh went to sleep. Cell phone's ring rudely jolted out of the sleep. He looked at the clock with dreamy eyes and it perhaps showed 5.30am. Cursing the caller he picked the phone. He was startled as he heard voice of his father on the other end. His father's usually calm voice was trembling and cracking. Perhaps it was for the first time in his life that he heard his father sob and as he heard the news, Ramesh couldn't believe his ears. His brother had died in a terrorist bombing on a local train half way across the globe. Memories of the time he spent with his brother came rushing to him. The fights they had over trivial things, how they made up with in few hours, and how they were united in hitting the bully in their neighborhood. They came with a torrent of uncontrollable emotions... He sobbed alone in his bed in a lonely country far away. Slowly gathering himself, he dressed up and with a sad heart left for the office to apply for leave... to witness the last rites of his beloved brother.

On his way he heard the news of the bombing on the TV sets in the local train station. Few people stopped to listen to the news. They moved along, pushing and shoving each other to catch the train that was about to leave platform. On the news channel news reader was going on..."one hundred eighty six people killed and over five hundred injured in the train bombings at Mumbai, India. World leaders offered their condolences to India." After that she switched on to the baseball game and was joking about the weather that day few seconds later. A wry smile came on Ramesh's lips as tears swelled in his eyes: His brother's tragic death was nothing but a count in a statistic that determined the air time on news channels across the world.