Punctual, Pious, Practical, Cheerful, Studious, Traditional - these are the first words that come to our mind when we think of Abirami, or Abi as we called her. We started out as roommates at Room 104 of Opal in the first year, and she was the girl with the big black-framed glasses and loud laughter!

One of the only girls of the EEE dept who wanted to sit in the first bench of the classroom, she was fiercely competitive when it came to academics. And hated the fact that her name started with an 'A' - she found that a big disadvantage in the practicals! She loved to dress traditional, and loved Mysore Silk Sarees - little wonder that she won the title of ' Best Dressed Girl' at the Madras Party in the first year. And her laughter - it rang in our ears for all our 4 yrs in RECT. We were neighbours in the remaining years at REC too. So lots of memories - pleasant ones, merry ones - but, as always, we lost touch with each other sometime after we graduated.

Pity there was no social media back then - maybe things could have been different if we'd stayed in touch. Some of us got back in touch more than a decade later - to a person who was going through some difficult times. Distance had already played it's part - we couldn't be of much help. When we heard she'd parted, all we could wish for is to hear that loud, merry laugh once more.....RIP, Abi! We hope you're smiling wherever you are........