The crash of Air India Flight 420 (Bostan) separates Gibreel Farishta from his former life and briefly turns his disappearance into a death for Alleluia Cone. The disaster’s consequences reach beyond the flight itself: Gibreel had been travelling to begin a new life with her, and his survival eventually returns both their relationship and his abandoned obligations to the story.

Background and Intended Journey

Gibreel had left Bombay aboard Air India Flight 420, Bostan, leaving seven producers behind. To Alleluia Cone, news linking him to the passenger list first meant that the man she had recently loved was dead. She later understood that he had been crossing the world to surprise her and hoped to build a life with her. The flight therefore carried an intention she could not know at the time: what appeared to be an abrupt disappearance had been meant as a return to her.

Presumed Death and Reversal

The news of Gibreel’s death brought Alleluia a painful double response. She felt relief and gratitude at the thought that he had loved her enough to abandon his former life for a shared one, alongside grief at losing him just as she recognized the depth of that love. She also questioned his plan to arrive without warning, imagining the assumption that she would be ready to receive him. She checked that resentment, however, against the cost he had paid, and allowed a dead lover the benefit of the doubt.

The apparent finality of the loss was reversed when Alleluia found Gibreel unconscious in the snow after her oxygen-free attempt to climb Everest. At first she wondered whether he was another of the visual aberrations that had troubled her during the climb. Carrying him to her flat convinced her that he was physically present. Her old irritation returned alongside her affection, but she chose to shelter him. His survival changed the crash’s meaning for her: the man she had mourned was once again within her care.

Aftermath and Consequences

Gibreel slept through most of the following week, waking only briefly, while words from his troubled dreams included Jahilia, Al-Lat, and Hind. His condition made the reunion uncertain and prompted Alleluia to call her mother, Alicja Cone, who inspected him and suspected possession. The crash had returned Gibreel alive, but not immediately to ordinary life.

Later, when his doctors at Maudsley Hospital considered substantially reducing his medication, Sisodia disclosed the practical consequences of Gibreel’s departure. The seven producers he had left behind were seeking damages for breach of contract, and the actress Pimple Billimoria alleged lost earnings and professional harm. Sisodia presented this as damage limitation, not betrayal, but Alleluia was angry that he had brought the claims into their lives. Gibreel’s survival thus reopened not only a personal future with Alleluia but also the unfinished business created when he boarded the flight.