Kin’s hopes of seeing Arpana dashed
HYDERABAD: Like father like daughter. A bright student, she was a topper all through her academics and aimed to become a professor. She worked hard towards her goal right from her school days. Her family was looking forward to her visit from the US in December during the Christmas holidays there.
But even before her visit, came the news of her untimely death in a foreign land which only shattered her family.
Arpana Jinaga (24) was the eldest daughter of Dr B C Jinaga, who the academicians and students of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) hail as a man of excellence.
She was found dead in her apartment at Redmond in Seattle, USA.
Like her father, Arpana too excelled in her studies and earned accolades from her mentors. ``She was a brilliant student and a dynamic girl,’’ recalled those who knew her.
Arpana is the niece of Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa's elder daughter-in-law Tejaswini.
Arpana, who was working as a software quality engineer in the USA, reportedly attended a Halloween’s party there along with her friends and that was the last time she spoke to her family.
‘‘She was happy when we last spoke to her on Thursday before she went for a party,’’ a visibly shattered Jinaga said. Jinaga, who came to know about his daughter’s death late last night, said his daughter never complained of any problem or threat there. Members of her family are likely to leave for the US shortly to get back the body.
Arpana did her Intermediate from Nalanda Junior College at KPHB Colony and completed her engineering from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bachupally.
‘‘In Intermediate and engineering, she topped in the college,’’ members of her family said.
She emerged as one of the top 20 winners in the Digital Singal Controller Design contest conducted at the international level by Microchip Technologies Inc. based in the USA.
In fact, the academic excellence of Arpana was highlighted by The New Indian Express way back in June 2005 in a column titled `Young Inventors.’ She had said she had plans to become a professor in the long run, which she ultimately could not fulfill.
Members of her family said that Arpana had left for the US in 2005 after completing her engineering. She later pursued her MS in embedded systems from the Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick.
``Initially, Arpana used to share accommodation with her friends and later she shifted to another apartment at Redmond,’’ a family member said.
Arpana had visited her her family in India in December 2006.
As the news of her death spread, Jinaga’s colleagues and his former students made a beeline to the house.
``We expect the State Government to intervene and ensure that the family receives the body at the earliest,’’ they said.
Meanwhile, sources said the US Consulate in Chennai contacted the family and agreed to extend all support for their travel to the US.
Jinaga, who hails from Gadag district of Karnataka, started off as a professor in the JNTU, Anantapur, and shifted to the city in 1990.
Arpana’s mother, Nirmala is a housewife and her sister, Pavitra, is pursuing her engineering second year from Naiduamma Engineering College.