In March 2022, when I (Bhupesh) got a call from Prathap, I was happy as usual to receive since he was the only friend who call frequently to keep the friendship vibes alive. But when I heard the news from his mouth that he was under treatment in a hospital in Vellore, I was upset since this should not have happened for such an ideal guy.
We both are from Kanyakumari district studied together in Dr. Sivanthi Aditanar College of Engineering 1999-2003 batch. We were roommates in the hostel and I spent most of my college life with his company. Prathap was an incredibly talented guy who enjoyed the college life along with the studies. We were a gang of six I, Prathap, Sundaraj, Mahendran, Syed and Selva roamed together and had lots of fun during college days. I am a guy with limited friendship since I jell with only people of my frequency, but Prathap was an easy-going guy who maintained friendship with everyone in the college.
Prathap possessed a smiling face, usually never got angry and very patient listener, so everyone liked him. He was very bold too and we witnessed this on few occasions during the college days. He was very particular about his dressing style and always come to classroom with shirt tuck it in. He used to maintain his body well. He was famous for his one liner witty counter dialogues and he delivered those comments with an innocent face without any smile. This nature brought him female friends too.
During exam days, everyone studies overnight with less sleep. But Prathap was as usual even during the exam times and several times I witnessed he covered only 50% of the syllabus, attended the exam and still scored 75% of marks. This was due to whatever he studied he was very thorough on that subject. He was one of the favorites of college professors.
We have done the final year project together and he has done major part of the project single handedly alone with microcontroller programs. He was a particularly good programmer but not much interested in the software programming side and loved to work in the electrical core area.
After engineering, we came together to Bangalore in search of job. Normally, guys from Kanyakumari district are familiar with frequent rains and there was no surprise we both liked this city for the same reason.
I entered software industry and he pursued his career in core electrical industry. We had lots of good times as roommates in Indiranagar. He was an ardent fan of Kamal Hassan and the movie ‘Panchatanthiram’ and ‘Anbe Sivam’ played very often in room. He was very fond of Kerala style food. We had been few trips with friends to places like Goa, Rameshwaram. I never forget the fun we had during his office annual day.
We used to discuss on politics and religious thoughts and this was a custom from college days. He respected other beliefs, never hurt other sentiments even though he was a sincere follower of Christianity. He was proud of an Indian citizen and in fact he tried for jobs in Indian air force in the beginning of his career.
His Bangalore life was short since he moved to Saudi Arabia and worked there for a long time. He brought me a Sony still camera from there which picturized my memories before the smartphone arrived. He was the first person got married (Nov’ 2008) in our gang and we attended his marriage function in Yettacode.
People of Kanyakumari district always longing to be in same weather and he got to know that Brunei country is having similar weather and he moved there after the birth of his first son. There he worked for a concern for few years and then he started his own startup called 'Daniel Engineering and Supply Sdn Bhd'. Initially he struggled for a year to brought up his startup and he succeeded later as an entrepreneur. He was the backbone of all budding technicians and engineers in his company. He had dreams to open the branch of his company in Chennai.
He was a good father and always worked hard for the betterment of both of his Sons. Even though we settled in different countries we were in constant touch and maintained the friendship. He loaned me when I purchased an apartment in Bangalore. We met at times in native whenever he visited India during vacation. Corona stopped him to visit for a long time.
When I and Subburajan went to meet Prathap in Vellore in April 2022, we shocked on seeing him. He was a physically fit guy, but the disease deteriorated him very badly. He was confident of recovery and his voice was sound as usual irrespective of his physical condition. We spent a day with him and returned to Bangalore with saddened heart and repeatedly telling ourselves this should not have happened to him.
3 months back Prathap came to Bangalore to continue his chemo treatment. This was the place he started his career and no one imagined that this would be the last place where he dwelled. Those days were painful and I have seen his sufferings with uncontrollable tears. His wife and his sons took care of him very well and he ordered online all items whatever required for their sons.
I suggested him to go native and continue the treatment from there. But he does not want anyone to show sympathy on him. He was a successful professional among his village people. He wanted to recover and go back to native as the same person perceived by his village people.
One day, we talked about college days and professional journey. He talked about the varieties of food he had in Saudi and he felt bad that he was not able to have anything now. We had spoken lot of usual things like politics, spirituality and he was happy that day.
The last few weeks he suffered very badly. He said that he was feeling pain even in his bones. He was not able to have food due to vomiting/digestion issues. His body weight was drastically reduced. He was unable to speak properly. He faced problem in walking with breathing issue, so we took him to the hospital and admitted for the recovery. The very next day he called me and said I am ok now. His voice was sound this time and I was happy that he will recover and be with us for more years.
On 20th October 2022 evening 9:00 PM, I got the news from his wife that my friend was no more. It was a heartbroken moment. It is a huge loss and he left so soon leaving another 50% of his life as an entrepreneur, son, husband, father and friend.
He was a man of positivity, and he was hopeful of his recovery and come back to normal life even at the last moment. I received call from many college mates on the very next day who talked with me after 2003, that showed his spread of love among the people.
It is an unbearable loss for his family. I lost my best friend, life without such a caring friend is something missing. We lost a wonderful soul due to a deadly disease and no clue from where it was occurred. I wish such disease should not come even for our enemy.
Prathap, your goodwill will save your family.
Rest in peace dear friend.
