With heavy heart, eyes filled with tears, people of Edappally receive Ramachandran's mortal remains
Kochi: As the Air India flight carrying Ramachandran’s body approached the skies over Kochi, rain poured down relentlessly. Those waiting below stood with hearts heavy and eyes wet, their sorrow mirrored in the downpour. Ramachandran, who had left his hometown with a bright smile to see the beauty of Kashmir, returned home lifeless, sealed in a coffin. His land received him not with celebration, but with grief etched into every face and silence loud with loss.
The body of N. Ramachandran (65), a resident of Mangatt Neeranjanam in Edappally, who was killed in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, was flown from Srinagar to Kochi via Delhi. The body arrived at Kochi Airport around 8 p.m. on Wednesday and was then moved to the mortuary of Renai Medicity Hospital in Ernakulam. The public homage and funeral will be held on Friday. Ramachandran’s wife Sheila, daughter Aarathi R. Menon, and Aarathi’s eight-year-old twin sons, Kedar and Drupad, who had accompanied him to Kashmir, also arrived on the same flight. Ramachandran’s son Aravind Menon, who lives in Bengaluru, was present at the airport to receive them.
On Tuesday, in Pahalgam, terrorists killed Ramachandran in front of his daughter Aarathi. He and his wife had gone on a vacation to Kashmir with their daughter and grandchildren, who had come from Dubai. As Sheila, who has a heart condition, waited in a car outside the hotel, Ramachandran, his daughter and the grandchildren went trekking. During their trip, terrorists arrived, asked for their names, and demanded they recite a religious prayer. When they said they didn’t know it, the terrorists opened fire. After the post-mortem, the bodies were kept near the police control room in Srinagar on Wednesday morning.
From there, at around 11:30 a.m., the body was taken to Delhi on Air India flight 1828 and then to Kochi on Air India flight 503. It was then moved to the mortuary at Renai Medicity Hospital in Ernakulam.
Ramachandran's elder brother Rajagopal and his wife had travelled from Edappally to New York to visit their daughter just a day earlier. As they came to know about the death after arriving there, they tried to get return tickets immediately, but none were available. They are expected to arrive in Kochi by Friday morning.
Leaders paid their respects
At Kochi airport, Minister P. Prasad and District Collector N.S.K. Umesh received the body on behalf of the state government. Minister P. Prasad placed a wreath on behalf of the Chief Minister and the state government. Union Ministers Suresh Gopi and George Kurian, Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan, BJP State President Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MPs Benny Behanan and Hibi Eden, MLAs Anwar Sadath, Antony John, T.J. Vinod, Eldhose Kunnappilly, District Panchayat President Manoj Mootthedan, Block Panchayat President T.V. Pradeesh and leaders from various political parties, including B.A. Abdul Muthalib, A.N. Radhakrishnan, Mohammed Shiyas, T.M. Zakir Hussain, Abin Varghese and Adv. Shijo Paul, paid their respects.
After a half-hour public viewing at the airport, the body was taken to the hospital mortuary in Kochi. Son Aravind Menon accompanied the ambulance. On Friday at 7 a.m., the body will be placed for public homage at Changampuzha Park in Edappally. Around 9:30 a.m., it will be brought home on Mangatt Road for final rites, followed by cremation at the Edappally public crematorium around 11:30 a.m.
Father in that Vishu photo is gone...
That 'Vishu picture' was full of joy. Aarathi had posted it on Instagram three days before the trip to Kashmir. With a gentle smile, she stood in the photo alongside her father, dressed in new Vishu clothes, with her mother, brother and children. On the fifth day, the father in that photo was "gone"—and so were the smiles on those faces.
Aarathi had come from Dubai with her eight-year-old twins, to celebrate Vishu with the family. In that joyous spirit, they decided to travel to Kashmir. But that journey turned into their last with Ramachandran. Aarathi stayed close to her mother for a whole night and day in Kashmir, without letting her mother know about the death of her father. Hardened by the ordeal, she did not break down as she entered the house in Edappally, realising that her father would never be there.
On Wednesday night around 9 p.m., amid pouring rain, they returned to that home without their father. Aarathi and her children were the first to get out of the car. Relatives waiting outside hugged them and took them inside. In another car, Sheela arrived. As she stepped out, her eyes brimmed with tears. Even then, it was Aarathi who came out of the house and held her mother close, taking her inside.
Aarathi had witnessed her father being shot by terrorists. From that moment, she feared what would happen if her mother learned the truth, especially given her heart condition. Aarathi took her mother and children to their room in the “Star of Kashmir” hotel and made sure no one else reached her mother or shared the tragic news. She left her mother in the room and handled the formalities—identifying the body, completing the post-mortem and collecting the death certificate. She only told her mother that Ramachandran had been seriously injured and that he was being taken to Kochi for better treatment.
A tribute from the land...
As Ramachandran’s body arrived, not only relatives but also political and social leaders waited at the airport. The body, which fell in the Baisaran valley to terrorist bullets, was received by all united, beyond political divides. As Minister P. Prasad and District Collector N.S.K. Umesh accepted the body, slogans were raised against terrorism and religious hatred, declaring that such crimes could not be forgiven.
Seeing the lifeless body of their beloved, whom they believed would return after a peaceful vacation in the paradise on earth, overwhelmed his siblings and relatives. Everyone present became part of their sorrow, laying wreaths and flowers in tribute within the short time allowed. Anti-terrorism and anti-communal slogans echoed until the end of the public viewing. Before the ambulance left with the body, a state government wreath was fastened to its front. Putting politics aside, all present ensured this act of unity and national sentiment. The ambulance carrying the body finally departed from the venue, receiving all the honour the land could offer.