New Delhi: This Diwali, Lokinder Kaur’s 16-year-long wait would have ended for her husband Ranjit Singh. But destiny had something else in store for Kaur who will never get to see Singh again. Singh lost his life in the wanton killings on Sunday when a lone gunman opened fire at the Sikh gurdwara where six devotees were killed. He was one of the employees at the gurdwara in Wisconsin.
A sense of gloom has descended upon Ranjit’s family, which lives in a modest house in Shyam Nagar in the western part of the capital. The family had not seen him in the past 16 years.
“I waited for him for 16 years and this wait will never end now. In all these years, I cannot even recall how he used to look,” said a shattered Kaur.
Kaur’s son Gurvinder Singh was all of seven months when his father left India in 1997 for the US.
“I would talk to him every day but never saw him,” the 15-year-old said.
According to Lonkinder, her husband always wanted his family to settle in the US and had applied for a Green Card.
“Whenever I asked him when will he come he used to say that he will come the day he would be in a position to take all of them [to the US]. He wanted his kids to settle in the US,” she said.
Hope ended
“I cannot live here anymore, I want to go to the US and see how he lived,” she added.
For the family, it was a twin tragedy.
Besides, Ranjit Singh, his younger brother Sita Singh also lost his life in the tragic incident.
“He [Sita] had gone to the US February 26 this year but we never thought he would never come back home. He was supposed to be here on Diwali too,” Sita Singh’s nephew added.
Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal visited the grief-stricken family and assured all help possible.
“We still cannot believe that both of them are no more,” said Lokinder, as she tried to control her emotions.
“I was looking forward to meeting him this Diwali.. now that hope has ended,” she said.
