Rohini Krishnamurthy (1980 – 2008)

“Hey – nee tamizh dhaane?”…. I do think these are indeed the first words she spoke to me. I had moved to Bangalore – IBM had transferred me there…and I had moved into a very very nice PG accomodation in Koramangala. She lived in the room next time.

We became very quick friends – nothing new about that as far as Iam concerned – I think those that dont interact with me on a daily basis are perhaps just the inanimate objects around me. Yes, Iam very talkative and am very proud of that.

Rohini hailed from as modest a background as mine. She hailed from Pondicherry had completed her MCA there and had just joined Infosys Bangalore through campus placements. She and couple of her friends from her college had joined this PG together. Parents were still in Pondicherry and an elder sister – this completed her family.

She was an extremely vivacious girl who really liked to live life the way she wanted to. I always admired her for that.

We stayed on in the PG for a couple of months before we took up a house in Madiwala and moved there. We had tremendous fun. They had opened up PVR in Bangalore – we loved films and would , on some sundays , end up watching 3 or at times 4 films back to back. We just had so much fun before life interrupted us. I had to move back to Chennai in 2006 due to a personal issue. Ro also took a transfer and moved to Chennai. Couple of months later she was sent to Minneapolis in the US of A for an assignment. I last met her when she came to India in late 2007 . She had also come down again Jan 2008 , but I was not able to meet her :(. She had called me once to tell me she was coming back to India for good – in April 2008 – as her project was getting over. But that was the last I heard from her. After that what happened to her is what I see on the google search . I tried calling her parents , but they are still overcome with grief.

Rohini passed away in the April of 2008 in a freak accident in Stillwater , Wisconsin (?). I did try reaching out to a couple of her friends who were with her and survived the accident , but I havent heard from them.

Ro – you definitely are a friend for a lifetime. I miss you and I always will. Here is hoping you find peace wherever you are.