Hotel reception, Marriott Plaza- Madh Island.

Shaista, a gorgeous woman of around 26, runs with a small suitcase up to the hotel reception.

Shaista: Can you confirm the booking by the name of Shaista?

Receptionist: Sure. ID and booking number?

Shaista (handing them over): Can I get travel points on my Amex for this stay? The fare has been
paid by my company.

Receptionist: Your stay doesnt qualify for the points.

Shaista: Oh, no problem. Thanks!

The receptionist hands over the key.

Basement. Banquet room, Marriott Plaza. Night.

Shaista enters the banquet and walks up to the bar. She notices that a 60-year-old man with
named Shankar Chowdhury, with a grey beard and rimless seated beside is quite keen on her.

S. Chowdhury: You need some help? (Noticing the young lady searching for something fervently)

Shaista: No, I found my tab. Thanks.

Shaista orders her drink.

S. Chowdhury gets back to his scotch. Shaista caught him staring a look at her in the middle. Once
she settles with her drink, S. Chowdhury strikes up a conversation with Shaista.

S. Chowdhury: Single or married?

Shaista: Single

S. Chowdhury: What do you do?

Shaista: Im an air hostess at Emirates.

S. Chowdhury: That shouldve been an easy guess considering your looks.

Shaista: Thanks (giggling).

After a moment of silence, Shaista, to be polite, asks:

Shaista: What about you sir?

S. Chowdhury: Sir makes you feel so old. Feel like getting an implant right away.

(Laughing)

Im a professor in Advanced Physics at state university in Kansas. It sounds boring, I know.

Shaista: Well, thats quite coincidental. My first boyfriend was a research student at Kansas.

S. Chowdhury: What was his name?

SHAISTA: You wouldnt know him. He wrote a few research articles but I dont think his work was
ever published. Or noted.

S. Chowdhury: You choose whatever term you like and Ill make sure everyone in the research
works starts using it.

Shaista (laughing again): His name was Zeeshan, Zeeshan Kareem.

S. Chowdhury ruts his brow, trying to remember. Suddenly it hits him.

S. Chowdhury (with grim and surprise): Zeeshan Kareem If I had known you knew that fellow He
presented his thesis at the university when I was heading the panel of judges. I ripped him apart.

Shaista: I was with him! It was so awful. After he read the review to his paper, he couldnt get out of
the bed for a week.

S. Chowdhury: Thats the way it goes sometimes: I have to destroy the guys self-esteem to protect
the sanctity of my field. I make mistakes rarely and what he presented was really terrible. Are you
still in touch with him?

Shaista: Nope, not at all. Our relationship didnt end well. I still think of him really fondly though. He
was a good man.

S. Chowdhury: He may not be a bad person, but it mustve taken guts to present a paper like that
as his final report. Thats right, Zeeshan. We were laughing at him for months after his
departure.

Ms. Ray, a woman sitting at the dinner table behind them leans towards them.

Ms. Ray: Excuse me overhearing you but I simply cant believe the coincidence. I taught Zeeshan at
school and was given the discouraging task of telling him that he failed his semesters. In twenty
years of experience, I never saw anyone reacting like him; he screamed and cried like a baby.

Raman, a young man sitting across Ms. Ray gestures to her.

Raman: Professor Ray?

Ms. Ray: Yes...

Raman: Raman Srivastava, do you remember?

Ms. Ray: My goodness, this is incredible! Cosmic connection of sorts. Wasnt Zeeshan a classmate of
yours?

Raman (respectfully): He was my junior at school.

Ms. Ray: Oh, okay. Are you friends with him?

Raman: No, no, not at all (Laughing) Poor guy. We made him work like...

Another man, Mr Srinivasan, standing at the bar nearby, joins the conversation.

Mr Srinivasan: This is unbelievable. Im the manager at the call centre where that psycho worked for
a while. He came and worked with us right after coming back from States. He would blank call
people for minutes and on. The guy mustve been retarded.

Shaista looked stunned. S. Chowdhury, starts to look around other people in the banquet room,
concerned. He senses something fishy.

Mr Srinivasan: He was always arguing with the clients and added a little business so I had to fire him.

And thenS. Chowdhury (interrupting) Excuse me, does anyone else here know Zeeshan Kareem?

All the people in the banquet turn around.

Man1 (surprised): Yes, I do.

Man2: He was my acquaintance.

S. Chowdhury: What are you doing on this resort? Did you book yourself over here?

Mr Srinivasan: My client asked me to visit a site for office expansion and they made my reservations
here.

Raman: I was called to a meeting at the Ministry of Sanitation. They covered me.

Ms. Ray: I won this ticket apparently on a lucky draw through mail and I couldnt change my tickets.
(Starting to realize whats happening)

Rohan notices that the FLIGHT ATTENDANT is trembling, with horror in her eyes.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT Gabriel Pasternak is a steward on this flight. We were friends, then he asked me
out and when I said no, he started to get-- Well, that doesn't matter now. As soon as we took off, he
went into the cockpit to take the pilots some coffee and he hasn't come back. The door is locked and
the pilots aren't responding. I don't know what to do.

The passengers begin to panic. Music begins playing over the loudspeakers and both Rohan and
Shaista recognize it: it is the piece Pasternak presented at the competition.

SHAISTA (crying, to Rohan) I left him for his only friend.

Shaista turns and looks around the plane. In one of the last rows, she recognizes the ONLY FRIEND
she left Gabriel for. He is about 35 and overweighttime has not been kind to him. He takes off his
earphones and waves to Shaista, smiling. He clearly has no idea what's going on.CARLOS, a husky
man, runs up to the cockpit door.

CARLOS (banging on the door) Gabriel, are you in there?! Gabriel! It's me, Carlos, Carlos Oliv, talk to
me, please!

SILVATICI (coming over) Where do you know him from?

CARLOS I was his psychiatrist. At some point, I raised my rates and he got mad and never came back.
(banging on the door again) Open up, Gabriel! Listen to me, none of this is your fault! You're the
victim here! Let me spell it out for you: your 7 parents are the ones to blame! Since you were born,
they asked too much of you, putting all their frustrations on you. Theyre the ones responsible for
your suffering, not us!

Shaista looks out the window and sees that the plane is coming down quickly towards a place she
recognizes.

SHAISTA (to Rohan, terrified) San Justo... Thats Gabriel's hometown.

CUT TO: EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - PATIO. DAY. PASTERNAKS PARENTS, a couple in their sixties
looking none too good for their age, are drinking mate on a patio that has also seen better days. The
sound of the birds is suddenly obliterated by the sound of the airplane engines. When they look up
to the sky, they see the Boeing 747 coming down towards them. The image freezes and turns into a
sketch. As if this were a storybook, the page turns and we continue with our next tale.