911 is here once more... Tribute to the three Malaysians who perished

911

By Emmanuel Surendra

9/11 is here. Much has been said about it. And I don’t think we’d need another post telling us the logic of it or a comparative post on post 9/11 thoughts and the Malaysian situation or a delusional one that still lingers in conspiracy. Here’s an interesting testimony found here via yangsquare.com. It goes something like this:

 

“A Fulbright fellowship has been established in the name of a Malaysian of Indian origin who died in the World Trade Centre terrorist attack in New York two years ago.

Vijayashanker Paramsothy, popularly known as Shanker, was, by all accounts, a young man in love: he loved living in New York City; he loved rooting for “his” British soccer team, Manchester United; he loved photography; and he loved making friends from all over the world.

But all that love of life was snuffed out on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre while he was at work on the 103rd floor of the South Tower.

Paramsothy, an exceptional student with a promising career, came to the US in 1996.

He obtained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the College of Insurance in New York and at the time of his death was working as a financial analyst for Aon Risk Consultants, Inc.

According to colleagues who survived the attack, Shanker was able to reach the 56th floor of his building after the first plane exploded. Once the second plane crashed into the North Tower, however, his supervisor became too injured to move.

Shanker urged his colleagues to continue their evacuation, but he decided to stay on the 56th floor to assist his supervisor. Both Shanker and his supervisor were killed when the tower collapsed.

Shanker was just a month away from his 24th birthday when he died. He was one of the three Malaysians who died in the terrorist attack; altogether, 2,801 people died when the World Trade Centre’s towers collapsed.”

To the late Vijayashanker Paramsothy, you are the embodiment of what we Malaysians should be. And while many of us aren’t, you’ve inspired some of us to be just that. This to me would be something I’d hold on to.