Hours after they spoke to Swathi, who was leaving on her maiden visit to her hometown of Guntur after landing a job in Bangalore six months ago, they heard that two blasts that rocked the train she was n at Chennai Central railway station on Thursday morning.
There was uncertainty in the hours that followed, and hope prevailed at Ram Sai PG Centre in Seetarampalya, off ITPL Main Road, East Bangalore. After all, they knew Swathi as a bundle of energy who was the unlikeliest of all the candidates death could visit. The entire PG plunged into grief once it was confirmed that Swathi was killed in the blasts.
Daughter of Guntur resident P Ramakrishna, Swathi worked as an assistant systems engineer, with TCS in Bangalore. Immediately after finishing her MTech, she was placed with TCS. She underwent three months training in Thiruvananthapuram, before getting placed in Bangalore in December last year.
As most of her colleagues were staying in the Ram Sai PG Centre, she decided to join them and moved into the accommodation 22 days ago. Anant Ram Reddy, the manager of the PG, clearly remembers the day Swathi joined the PG. "I clearly remember she joined us on April 8," he said without looking at any documents.
He said the last time he saw her was on the CCTV footage from the PG showing her leaving with her bags late on Wednesday night. "She was very soft-spoken girl. I never spoke to her much but she used to flash a broad smile whenever she saw me. After all this, to see her parents breakdown, on TV, was heartbreaking. It shouldn't have happened to her," he said.
Jayashree R, a roommate of Swathi, said she too got to know the news of Swathi's death through friends and later from the news channels. Her roommate and colleague, Monica, rushed to Chennai as soon as she heard the news of the blasts.
"I met her for the first time during training in Thiruvananthapuram for the first time. As we were working in the same office and sharing a room, we became close. I just can't believe she is gone," said Jayashree.
According to her friends, Swathi was planning to settle down as she had found a good job and was heading home to discuss this with her family. "She was really excited about this trip, she was going home after six months," said one of her PG mates.
"We are deeply shocked and saddened at this unfortunate loss of life of our colleague in this tragic incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time," a TCS spokesperson said.
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