They dreamed of getting married on returning home to start an IT company. However, all those dreams crashed and burned in the ghastly accident that claimed the lives of five techies from the state in US on Friday. A day after their Chevrolet Camaro hit a tractor trailer on the junction between Interstate 40 and I-35 in Oklahoma on Friday, their families and friends were making desperate calls to the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) to know when the bodies of Jaswant Reddy, Phanindra Gade, Anurag Anthati, Srinivas Ravi and Venkat would be flown back to India. They also apporached the Indian consulate in Houston.
Jaswant Kumar Reddy wanted to return from the US and planned to set up a software firm in Hyderabad. But since the IT sector was in a severe crisis, the 32-year-old postponed his return to 2013. A native of Kadapa, he did his schooling at the MGM High School at Kottayam in Kerala and finished his engineering course at J B Institute of Engineering and Technology (JBIET) in Hyderabad. He went to USA a few years ago for higher education at Western Kentucky University while staying at Bowling Green, Kentucky with his other ill-fated techie friends. "Jaswant often used to say he wanted to set up an IT firm in Hyderabad,'' said his friend Kartheek.
Relatives and friends gathered at the house of Anurag Anthati had their own story to tell.
"Anurag invited his US-based sisters to his house and himself prepared sweets for them on Raksha Bandhan,'' said his cousin Lohita Kandukuri. Anurag's father Venkateswara Rao is a businessman and his mother Jyothi a housewife.
Anurag was a native of Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district but his family live in Hyderabad.
A retired employee of the Singaneri collieries, Srinivas Ravi's father received news of his son's death only from his relatives. "My relatives who live in Godavarikhani informed my family about the accident. They also said that TANA is working to send the bodies back to India,'' said Bhoopathi at his home in Ayodhya Colony at Masab Tank.
The parents of another accident victim, Phanindra Gade, said they have been looking for a bride for him. Speaking to Express, Phanindra's uncle GV Prasad said, "We were actually waiting for his return in October as we had some prospective matches for him. But now we are waiting for his body."
Phanindra's father Gade Shivaprasad and mother Swarnalatha have not been informed of their son's death because of their frail health.