The pub was 1 Above, the music was loud and the cake was chocolate. The setting was perfect as Khushbu Bansali rang in her 29th birthday with friends and family in the rooftop restaurant of a posh Mumbai building.
But Khushbu, who turned 29 on the 29th, did not live to see the day. The merriment soon turned into mayhem as a fire broke out shortly after midnight, reducing the restaurant to a heap of smouldering bamboo and wood.
Fourteen people were killed, 11 of them women, most of them asphyxiating to death, officials said.
Among the dead was the birthday girl who just a short while ago was blowing out candles to the chorus of “Happy Birthday” and wishes for a long life.
As is the wont in these days of social media, her friends took little time in uploading the video of a laughing Khushbu, dressed in a black top, cutting her cake.