Family unaware of tragedy

BANGALORE: A few days ago, Nagarjuna, 22, gifted himself a new motorbike. On Saturday, when STOI reached his house in the narrow lanes of Cauvery Nagar, near Whitefield, Narayanaswamy, Nagarjuna's brother was having a nap. He didn't quite understand why the media had descended on his house. Nagarjuna's new motorcycle was parked outside the house.
"We did not go there (Sabarimala).The people who went with him said they were getting him along with them. He's just injured. He's coming back with the group,'' Narayanaswamy insisted, blissfully unaware that his brother was one among the 27 dead from the state in Friday's stampede.
Their mother, Venkatamma, who had come to visit her children, had seen off Nagarjuna when he left for Sabarimala on Tuesday night with a 10-member group.
On Saturday morning, Narayanaswamy received a call from a group member, saying that his brother was injured, hours before their mother left for Chittoor to join her husband.
Hailing from a small village near Chittoor, Narayanaswamy joined a garment factory in Bangalore 10 years ago. Nagarjuna joined a plywood factory four years ago. "He was very fond of motorcycles and bought one for himself. Last year, he went to Sabarimala and he wanted to go this year also,'' Narayanaswamy added, holding on to the belief that his brother is alive.