Atul was eager about 1st day of Class XII, fate played elseways

Atul Vohra had just completed his Class XI examination and had been waiting anxiously to attend his first day of Class XII at Bal Bharti Public School. He had been volunteering at a local ashram and had asked his grandmother for a party on making it to the final year in school.

But on Monday, while his friends were attending the first school assembly, Atul was not present. While they kept guessing about his whereabouts, they were in for the most shocking school assembly announcement of their lives that Atul died in a road accident.

"We were all childhood friends. We knew each other for all these years. He was a hardworking student and we all had cleared the exams and were looking forward for the first day in school. But then they announced his death during the school assembly and we left school to meet his family," said Sumedha, Atul's friend.

Atul, who was very religious in nature, had been volunteering at a local ashram in Sunder Vihar. He was looking forward to his classes and had been working since Saturday morning. He had called up his grandmother Tara Anand on Saturday.

Tara had promised her grandson that she would treat him for clearing his exams but instead she was attending his funeral. "He told me that he had cleared his eleventh and will be attending the classes from Monday. I asked him for a treat but instead he convinced me to throw a party for him," she said.

Tara never imagined that she was talking to Atul for the last time. "I never thought that I would be attending his funeral. That was the last time we talked," she further added.

His school friends remembered his prowess in accounting and talked about how he would help them out with their problems without any hesitation. However, his family revealed his real passion — Travelling.

Atul had taken a unique combination of commerce with geography, as he wanted to learn more about the world. "He had taken geography as his additional subject and had expressed a keen interest in learning more about the world. Last year he had convinced his family to go for a trip to Dubai with his schoolmates. He enjoyed much at the trip," said Ruchi Arora, Atul's sister. The Dubai trip was the last for Atul with his friends before he left behind his friends and died in a hit-and-run accident. The following morning his neighbours brought back his battered body as his family started to cry after seeing him.

"Atul is gone but we want the culprit behind this to be punished," Ruchi added.