Tearful adieu to budding swimmer

PATNA: Family members, friends and teachers on Tuesday bade a tearful adieu to budding swimmer Akshay Kumar (17), a Class XII student of St Michael’s High School, who was killed in the Indore-Patna Express train accident near Kanpur on Sunday.
“Akshay, who dreamt of becoming a navy officer, was excellent in swimming,” said Ambrish Jha, his sports teacher.
An inconsolable Abhinav Kumar, Akshay’s younger brother, said his ‘bhaiya’ always used to talk about getting either into navy or air force.Akshay’s elder brother Amitabh Kumar, an engineering student, is yet to reach Patna from Chandigarh. His grandfather M N Pathak, maternal grandmother Parvati Devi and parents are still in a state of shock.
Akshay’s uncle Ravindra Pathak, a teacher at Balia in Uttar Pradesh, who rushed to Patna soon after getting the shocking news, said he had a long discussion with Akshay during Chhath regarding his career plans. “I suggested him to go ahead with swimming, which was his passion,” he said. “Akshay was perhaps among the last ten persons whose bodies were recovered from the accident site on Monday,” he added.
Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal and other senior officials also attended Akshay’s cremation on the bank of the Ganga at Bans Ghat here.
School principal Fr Armstrong Edison said classes of standard XI and XII were suspended on Tuesday after morning prayers for peace to the departed soul.