After finishing their day’s work, it is an evening routine for the youngsters from HB Colony to gather at some place for a casual chat. The discussion varies from how their day went, cricket and the upcoming movies.
But on Sunday, the scene was different. None was seen at their favourite at their favourite hangout places for the friendly chit-chats over steaming cups of tea. A pall of gloom descended on the entire locality as six known faces from the area were feared to have drowned at the Yarada Beach.
The air was heavy with the family members mourning. Six of 10 local youth who had gone for a jolly trip on the weekend did not return.
The locals gathered on the roads and the discussion was how the number of drowning deaths were growing on the city beaches. Women were seen enquiring about the search operations. “They all are known faces. Daily evening, they gather at this place. They would sit on their bikes and talk. I see them daily. It’s unfortunate that all are in the prime of their youth. This should not have happened,” said Ramana, a private employee from the colony.
The locals say that the youth are friends since the last 10 years. A few even shared a good bonding since more than 15 years. On Sunday, some of them went to offer prayers at the snake pits and ant hills on ‘Naagula Chavithi’. After the puja, they went to the Beach.
Among the youth, 20-year-old Tirupathi’s family migrated from Srikakulam district to teh city some 18 years ago and settled down in H.B. Colony. At an early age, his father died. His mother Kumari took up menial jobs to get her two kids educated. Tirupathi is pursuing electrical course at Sankethika College at PM Palem, while his younger is studying in a school.
Dream shattered
Neighbours said that Kumari was dreaming that her son would land a job soon to support the family. “This incident has left the family shattered and his mother expects that he would return for sure,” said an inconsolable Gowri Naidu, Tirupathi’s uncle.
“Tirupathi is a polite and silent boy. He knows his responsibilities so he took his education seriously and used to score 80 % marks,” he added.
Meanwhile, another 21-year-old youth, Vasu, has just started to share the responsibilities of his family. Vasu, after losing his father at an early age, started driving an auto-rickshaw last two ago to help out her mother who is working as a tailor. It was in his auto-rickshaw that some of his friends went gone to Yarada on Sunday, a neighbour said.
