Hyderabad: It was supposed to be a time for celebrations. Dinesh Giri Goswami and Mona Thakur were set to become parents – a first for Dinesh. Mona had two daughters from a previous marriage that ended in divorce four years ago.
But the unpleasant past was behind them. They had found love in each other, got married a little over a year ago and were eager to enter this new phase of life.
But a drunk driver put an abrupt end to all their dreams.
“They were such a happy couple,” recalled a teary-eyed Rohan Giri Goswami, Dinesh’s cousin as the family waited for the post-mortem examination (PME) to finish at the Osmania General Hospital (OGH), on Sunday afternoon. “Mona was pregnant, and they were heading home to Banjara Hills to share the news with Dinesh’s mother,” he said.
Now, the grief-stricken mother is left counting her losses. Especially since Dinesh, who worked as general manager with a major real estate firm in Hyderabad, was all that Giri Vijaya had after she lost her husband 28 years ago. Dinesh was only seven then. “I pinned all my life’s hopes on him…Where do I go now?” the devastated mother said, even as other family members recounted how Vijaya worked hard as a tailor and fought all odds to raise him single-handedly.
At a distance, Mona’s two daughters – 14 and 12 years – were inconsolable. As was her elder brother, Thakur Charan Singh. Fighting back his tears, he shared how Mona, a software specialist with a major financial company, was the laadli of the house. “She was the youngest of us three brothers and four sisters and loved and pampered the most,” said Charan Singh, a metal fabricator by profession. He added: “Mona was very smart, both academically and professionally. After her divorce four years ago, she finally found happiness with Dinesh.”
According to Amit Singh, Mona’s nephew, the couple set out around 10 pm on Saturday. Within an hour the family received a call about the accident. “We were preparing for celebrations, instead, we have been struck by a tragedy that will take a long while to heal,” he said.
