Raghavendran Ganeshan, the Infosys employee who was killed in the Brussels bomb attacks, was known as a quietly efficient and multi-talented man among family and friends.
One of his uncles, KV Krishnaswami, said he was sincere in whatever he did and was humble about his success.
But all they have are memories of the happy and contended man after his body arrived in a box.
Raghavendran, who was born in Chennai and raised in Mumbai, was killed while travelling in a coach of Brussels metro in which one of the suicide bombers blew himself up on March 22. He was the lone Indian who fell to the terrorist’s bomb.
Raghavendran’s father C Ganeshan, mother Annapoorni and brother Chandrasekhar brought his body to Chennai on Tuesday afternoon. His father performed the last rites as his shocked and stunned family members, friends and well-wishers bid him farewell at Mahalakshmi Nagar crematorium in south Chennai’s Sithalapakkam area.
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The 31-year-old father of a son completed school in Maharashtra and joined a private engineering college in Vellore for a specialisation in electronics. He was among the brighter students who was picked up by Infosys and trained in Bengaluru.
{{/usCountry}}The 31-year-old father of a son completed school in Maharashtra and joined a private engineering college in Vellore for a specialisation in electronics. He was among the brighter students who was picked up by Infosys and trained in Bengaluru.
{{/usCountry}}Raghavendran was scheduled to visit Chennai for a family reunion in a couple of months.
“He was in Chennai just two months ago for the naming ceremony of his son,” one of his relatives said.
His brother-in-law, P Balasubramanin, wailed inconsolably as he said that his sister and Raghavendran were planning to settle down in Pune, a place where he spent some time working before moving to Brussels. He had bought a house there.
Another family member said that when Raghavendran could not be traced after the terror attacks, his wife Vaishali was the bravest of the lot and maintained all along that “they are looking for him in the wrong places. He must be taking treatment somewhere”.
But she could not control herself after seeing his body and pushed relatives aside asking them why had they kept her hopes alive.
Raghavendran’s brother Chandrashekar said they were hopeful till Saturday but once they got a word from authorities in Brussels that they had six unidentified bodies, they went there with a sinking feeling.
It was a bracelet and ring that helped the family identify the body, said Margaret, the family’s neighbour, at Sithalapakkam.