Tribute to a Friend: Holagunda Srikanth

Kishore

(October 2002)

Last month I came to know that one of my school friends met with an accident and it was a shock to me. His name is 'Holagunda Srikanth' more popularly known as just Srikanth.

I received a mail from one of my classmates which conveyed this shocking news. He was working in steel plant at Durgapur, India where he had an 'industrial accident' on July 30,2002. This came as big shock to me. For next few days I was quite troubled and emotionally upset. I had difficulty in imagining he is no more. Though I have not been in touch with him for quite sometime, I still felt 'it could have been me' kind of emotions.

When any person meets with death at a young age, it is a shock to everyone associated with person. I just cannot imagine the pain of his family members.

Srikanth was my school classmate. We studied together at same school (N.K.V.H.School, Rajahmundry). Though he was in a different section, he is a well known person among our batch. He was also my classmate during Intermediate. After that he joined REC Rourkela and completed his Engineering in Metallurgy. I used to exchange letters with him during that time. After that he got job in SAIL and joined steel plant.

We will always remember him as a friendly and jovial person. He was always enthusiastic and got along with people very well. I particularly remember the days when all our friends used to gather at his house daily to play games. During our Intermediate college days, we used to have college closed because of an ongoing agitation. We used to return and assemble at Srikanth's house and play carrom and chess. It usually used to be a gathering of at least 5 - 10 people. As I write these words those memories are still fresh in my mind.

Last time I talked to him was almost 2 years ago. He came to US and visited his brother and spent sometime in US. After coming back to India, he called me in Madras. He was going back home. He called me (I was staying in Madras) and talked for a few minutes. He was as usual very jovial over phone and was talking enthusiastically about his trip to US and how much he liked it here. He hoped he will also get a chance to go to US.

Next thing I did was to share this news with my other friends who know him and every one expressed the same shock and could not take the news so easily. At least by sharing the news, I felt better. (As the saying goes sorrow shared is half sorrow and happiness shared is double happiness)

And as I complete my tribute to my friend, I will summarize my words about him as "A friend who is always a joy to be with" and sure hope his soul is at rest and pray to God for the same.

Photo: I could not find a recent photo I took with my friend, but I have our intermediate class photo. Srikanth is 7th person from left in 2nd row from Top. Check the photo by clicking here.

Post a Comment