AUGUST 14th 2006

AUG 14th
The day, which my roommates and me cannot forget. The day when our flat mate specifically my roommate left all of us.

Vinod Srikumar alias “Yo!!” planned to go to Goa with his college mates. As the plan was plotted I warned him not to go there on August as it will be the time of monsoon, and the sea will be rage. But he escaped with an excuse that his friends wont get leave like this all together. So I said to be careful.

On Aug 11th he went to Pune, from there one of his friend joined him and they set to Goa. The rest would join them from Bangalore, Kerala. So they all met at Goa. There were total 13 guys. On Saturday he called me and I said him to be careful and not to go to sea. Just visit the beach and come back. But I haven’t thought that the advice was like a line drawn on the water. The nest day, Sunday, again he called me and then too I said the same thing. But….

On Aug 13, me and my flat mates went for shopping. While roaming in a mall, we got a call from Vinod’s mobile, that he and his friend is missing in the sea. They all went to beach to take bath, but as a high tide came, these two couldn’t reach the shore. The rest were simply seeing then drowning. They stared at them, vanishing with the tide, as the sea was rage and the lifeguards were on strike.

First of all we thought that he was playing prank on us. Then I called him back. The phone was actually picked by his friend and told me to understand the situation and they are not playing fun on us. Suddenly I felt tired, I lost all my energy that I could barely stand. All my room mates became gloomy. As I couldn’t withstand the situation, I started crying. The depth of relation was that much, that he was more than a friend to me.

Soon one by one started crying. Then we left the mall and went to the railway station near to our flat. There we sat and thinking what to do. Then we informed the seniors of our office. Then 4 of us left to Goa. They didn’t allow me to accompany them. They reached there early morning on Aug 14th. On that day at 5.30AM, Vnod’s body came to shore- ‘ The sentence which I can’t write’. I heard the news from them on Monday morning. Then the rest from our flat including me started to Goa. We reached there by evening. By the time the postmortem and all formalities were finished. When I reached the Goa Medical College, we went to mortuary to see him. I broke down seeing his body frozen in the mortuary. The moment that drained all my strength from me. And I would like to thank my classmate Amit Ashokan, who is settled in Goa for giving us the number of the Malayalee Samajam members. Actually all the formalities have been taken care by them, and I am thankful to them for such a service. They made all to happen fast, medical work, paper works, transportation etc.

Then on the same day night 5 of us set to Kerala for his cremation ceremony. His parents reached there early morning, from UK, as they both are working there. His body reached Kochi via air accompanied by his cousins and uncle. We reached there on Aug 15 noon. ON seeing us his parents started crying. We all couldn’t withstand the situation as we all broke down and wept along with them. They both were asking me why we let him to go to Goa. Actually his parents thought that we accompanied him for the trip to Goa. The situation was worse, as we all couldn’t get words to console them.

On Aug 15th, Indian Independence Day, Vinod’s soul was also set to Independence…..

Why man? Why u left all of us, your parents? U have taken everything lightly…
But still u will be in all of our hearts… U live long in our minds through your YO!!