They hoped for the best and weren’t quite prepared for the worst. So when news came in, Alkesh Wasu and Mayur Dhakka, two of Minal Panchal’s closest friends, didn’t quite know how to react. Shocked, stunned they rushed to the only place they could think of: Our Lady of Remedy School in Borivali (West) where they had all spent some of their best years.

“Minal was a very close friend of mine. In fact, she kept the group closely knit together. She was an extremely innocent and confident girl,” recalls Wasu, now working with Aptech. “All her old friends have been calling each other, sharing their anguish ever since we heard of the unfortunate incident,” adds Dhakka, who graduated from school along with Panchal in 1996.

Late on Tuesday night, an Indian embassy official in Washington confirmed that Panchal, who was attending a civil engineering lecture when the shooting at Virginia Tech took place, was among the 32 dead. Paul Karimanan, Panchal’s school teacher, remembers her fondly. “Minal was particularly good at Mathematics. She was also fond of singing, dancing and art.”

Those that knew her—friends, acquaintances, neighbours at the Park View Apartments in Borivali (West)—all talk of her mental strength and determination. Panchal to them was a “simple” girl, but focused and brave enough to deal with the sudden death of her architect father—she even performed the last rites—three years ago and emerge a topper in her class.

“Simple”, “sensitive”, “very intelligent” keep coming up when friends and professors from Rizvi College of Architecture talk about her. “She came into her best elements in the final years at the college. That’s when her real aspirations started taking concrete shape,” says Principal Akhtar Chauhan.

... contd.