A friend, a brother, a guardian, a mentor - so many hats my beloved Shrey wore! The universe doesn’t make people like him anymore. Very very rare to be found.

Our families were always closely knit, spending our childhood together, playing as kids occasionally. But our relationship as siblings grew stronger since we shared the same residential college. He was my local guardian at college. Always loving, thoughtful, caring and made me feel that I have my family with me, I was home far away from home. We also started working in the same city and I had him, my brother - my family with me again. He would take me to restaurants, surprise me on birthdays, and always make time, always be there. While others dropped birthday messages, a call from Shrey first thing in the morning would made me feel so loved.

I always looked forward to be a part of his wedding but little did I know that the universe had other plans. I would always say that even if hell breaks loose, even if I am on my deathbed, I would make it to his wedding, to see him smile, to see him happy.

When I recall all these incidents and stories, I can only say he was a GEM OF A PERSON! And it pains me immensely to say that I have lost that gem. It has been a year since the unfortunate incident, and not a single day passes by without remembering his smiling face, his husky voice. I miss him every day. My world will never be the same without him.

Shrey’s absence has made me realise and accept the truth that we are just drops in the ocean, our time on this earth is controlled by the universe. So whatever time we have left, we should spend it with our loved ones.

Shreyance had showered millions of lifetimes of love to his loved ones in a short span of time. His life has taught me to love, care and value relationships beyond everything. And I am striving to be like him

Shrey - you’ve created a permanent void in my heart that can never be filled. I love you and miss you my brother.

S - Self-less
H - Humane
R - Resilient
E - Enthusiastic
Y - Youthful
A - Approachable
N - Nifty
C - Caring
E - Enlightened

There are a lot of memories of him to share. When he was about 18 months old and had learnt walking. One day in Patna, I returned home and found him at the gate sitting outside on a small piece of brick along with Ajit on the side. When he saw me, his face filled with a wide-open smile, and he call me "Kaau". That was the first time he called me by a name.
Another memory is - when he was 7-8 months old. At that age he had come to know how tasty and savory a mango could be. One day after finishing the main course of lunch, we were having mango. He was sitting on my lap and pieces of mango were there in a plate in front of us. I was feeding him pieces of mango. Once I took a longer time to cut a cut piece mango, but by that time Shrey ran out of patience and failed to hold of himself; he bent and straightaway his mouth was on those pieces, stacked in front of us. He always used to say that how I tricked him eat rajma by saying that it a type of a chicken recipe.  

During his stay in NJ, he cooked mutton recipes for me. He always spent some days with me during his visits to US. I always wanted him to make career in USA like most of the IT professionals in India dream of it. But he never had such American dream. He wanted to be with his mother and father because he felt that he never had opportunity to stay longer with them.
He had been very caring not only for my Dada, Bhabhi and Shradha but for everyone around him. 
Often, he enquired whether I and Madhu had health insurance coverage because he was worried that insurance provided by company won't cover Kaku & Kaki.
Both of us, me and Madhu always believed that 'Shrey to hai na hamara khyal rakhne ke liye' 

I used to think that one day I would leave him behind. But in my wildest of dream never imagined that he would make the first move and leave me behind. The Void he left will never be filled by any means.
Despite all pains, I am proud of him that he proved himself a true soldier who didn't care for his own life to save the two who mattered to him the most. 

Dear Shrey, you made first move and left me behind, but one day I shall catch you up in the Heaven.

A poem by Sushma Mami for Bhaiya

I don't know what to write because there are so many  memory of you.  From day one in EMC, We have memories of you. It all started from roaming around the office, going for breakfast together. And most of the funniest one was at lunch where everyone is taking a full plate of the meal and you were joining us with either SALAD or FRUITS bowl and replying to us that you were on DIET.  And the list goes on. 

Last memory of SCS I have, He called me around 10 PM in Jan-Feb 2021 and said that "Yaar bore ho raha hu, let's go for a drive and we went to HSR from Sarjapur Village". That day we were together for almost 4-5 hour. We were talking till 3:00 AM (I don't know if I say, it is midnight or early morning).

You Left us very early buddy. We miss you a lot. If time can be revered and if we can bring you back we would be very happy to do that. 

I was looking forward to raising a toast for Bhaiya’s wedding, never thought I would be writing an obituary for him. Bhaiya was full of life, cheerful, bubbly and chatty. Also, you can never win any argument with him. I used to tease him that he should have become a Lawyer instead of being a Software Engineer. He was very warmhearted, no one knows, he used to support Ajeet dada’s (Our household help when we were Kids) children for their education monthly when he could hardly afford doing that. Bhaiya always prioritized his family over anything and thought about their well being over his own. He will give away all his gifts to me. Bhaiya will always pamper me so much and make me feel special all the time. He was my go to person for anything in life, be it deciding on my new phone or planning my birthdays and wedding or picking up/dropping me in the ugly Bangalore Traffic or just being there whenever I needed him.He will always take care of everything. He helped me with almost everything since childhood like a perfect Big Brother. Most recently,he wrote most of my statement of purpose essays and letter of recommendations while applying to universities in the U.S. I would take his help in my overwhelming Machine Learning coursework and he would happily spend hours on zoom teaching his little sister. I owe my Master’s Degree to him. He inspired and motivated me at each step in my life and supported me in all my life decisions.  Bhaiya made my FairyTale wedding possible. He put so much time and effort into the wedding arrangements, his spectacular dance performance and toast. He was very well connected to all our cousins and was my link to them. Bhaiya was my safety net from the cruel world. I had no idea how lucky I was until it went away. I so wish that he should have been the one who gets to live instead of me, he had so much more to offer to the world and was such a great human being that I could never be. His voice keeps playing in my head. Bhaiya affectionately called me ” Donu-Bonu” and “Babu”. I don't know how to live without him. The world is never going to be the same without him and feels like a nightmare everyday without him. Bhaiya is still helping me to be strong each day in so many ways from wherever he is, he is still my safety net. Bhaiya loved me so much in his time on earth that I have enough for surviving my lifetime here. I could not save my brother from covid but I will keep him alive in me. No amount of words can express my love for him. I miss him every moment. If the universe blesses me with a child, I will name it after Bhaiya. I love you Bro and I will keep loving you more everyday for the rest of my life. You were the best thing that had happened to me !