Love for adventure led to tragedy

Bengaluru: Leeldhar Patali set out for Dr Ambedkar Medical College mortuary on Thursday night as soon as he heard his son had drowned in a quarry pool. But the elderly security guard from Nepal who works in Electronic City got lost several times as he didn’t know his way around Bengaluru beyond his workplace and accommodation and reached Kadugondanahalli only on Friday afternoon.
He sank down by the mortuary gate, and listened silently to what his cousins had to tell him about the circumstances of his son Khem Patali’s death. “I sent him some money a few days ago and the last time we spoke, he told me his studies were going well,” Patali told police. He broke down when his son’s body wrapped in a blue plastic sheet was wheeled out of the morgue.
“Khem was the first to attend engineering college from our village in Kailali district in Nepal,” said one of his relatives. His education was being sponsored by his relatives, friends and neighbours. The boy who was to have been the first engineer from his village was one of the five engineering college students, all 19, who died on Thursday while swimming in an abandoned quarry in Chikkajala.
Some of Khem’s relatives who work in private establishments in Vijayapura had come to the mortuary on Friday morning. “I saw photos of the quarry on his Facebook page and I liked them. I never realized how dangerous it was,” said Khem’s uncle Karan Patali.
“He was a hero to many of us. He was a good student, a great footballer and a body builder. He encouraged us to stay fit,” said Khem’s hostel mate Kushal.
Another student Praveen said Khem, Arun Chandra Shetty, Nanda Kumar KR, A Harish and Rajesh Karan Lamba finished their internal exams and went to the quarry to celebrate. They were fourth semester students of Revana Siddeshwara Engineering College in Chikkajala. Relatives said Khem and Rajesh, both from Nepal, would be cremated in Bengaluru.
The bodies of Nanda and Harish were taken to MS Ramaiah Hospital around 9am for postmortem. Nanda’s father Ramesh Kumar, an employee of Hebbal Veterinary College, said he dreamt of sending his son abroad for postgraduate studies. “Nanda was good at studies. I had a lot of hopes for him and planned to sell my agricultural land at Hassan if needed to send him abroad for higher studies,” Ramesh said, with tears in his eyes.
Harish’s mother Palaniyamma lost consciousness when his body was shifted to an ambulance. His brother Ananda K, a mason, said, “We are shocked because he never shared his swimming adventures with the family.”
Arun’s father Chandrashekar Shetty said the government needed to close abandoned quarries. “What happened to my child and other shouldn’t happen to anyone else,” he said. “The government should take immediate measures so that more students do not lose their lives.”
Prashanth Ananthakrishna, a resident of Yelahanka and a student of the same college, said many from the college swam in the quarry. “Despite warnings from locals and police, my friends visited the quarry often. Khem’s Facebook photos of swimming in this quarry were shared by many students. More students would visit during weekends and sometimes have moonlight dinners as well,” he said.