In Kolkata, a school mourns its fallen students

Ankik Dhar (23), his sister Anindi (19) and friend Shilpa GoenkaFramed pictures of Ankik Dhar (23), his sister Anindi (19) and friend Shilpa Goenka were covered in garlands on Monday, as school mates and former classmates gathered to mourn them.

The three youngsters were killed in Saturday’s blast at German Bakery in Pune. The memorial was held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan in Salt Lake, Kolkata, where the three youngsters had studied till they moved to Pune a few years earlier.

Those who had studied here with them came in to their old school to light candles in their memory.

Ankik, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, had been working with investment banking firm JP Morgan. His sister Anindi was a first-year Economics student at Pune’s Fergusson College. Shilpa, the youngest of three daughters of a Kolkata-based trader, worked with the IT wing of Japanese stock broking firm Namura in Mumbai.

“We have lost three dear students of the school and we will observe one minute of silence in memory of them,” said principal Anindita Chatterjee. “The school will remain shut on Wednesday in mourning.”

At Salt Lake’s BB block, where the Dhar siblings lived, the house where Ankik and Anindi were born and grew up was deserted. Their father, Kamalendu, a senior ONGC official, had rushed to Pune to bring the bodies of his children home.

“Anindi was captain of the school basketball team. She was extremely creative. She loved trekking and photography and was a good writer,” said childhood friend Chitrangada Chakraborty. Ankik was a good student and used to perform in plays in Kolkata regularly, added neighbour Kaushik Ganguly.