Reshma Ragoonath
Mahadeo and Nanda Ramcharan had made a pact that if their son Nyron–who has been ailing with his kidneys–were to die, they would follow him in death.
Tragically, the couple's vow to all die together came to pass on Tuesday (the Eid holiday) when Ramcharan, 46, Nanda, 36, and Nyron, 13, all died in a car crash along the south-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway, near Endeavour Flyover, Chaguanas.
Yesterday Nanda's elder sister Marilyn Sundar-Rampersad revealed this to mourners as she delivered the eulogy at the funeral service for the Ramcharans' at their Ramsabad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal, home.
"Nanda had decided if anything ever happen to Nyron in the future she cannot live, and Prakash decided that if Nanda goes with Nyron, he goes. He loved his wife dearly. God made them into one family and took them together," sobbed Sundar-Rampersad.
The couple and their son died instantly when a garbage truck spun out of control, crossed the median and landed on the Ramcharans' Honda Civic car. A Mitsubishi Lancer car had collided with the garbage truck just before it crashed into the Ramcharans' car.
The family were on their way home after taking Nyron for dialysis treatment at Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope. Their two other sons–Rikash, 17, and Nigel, 12–were not with them at the time of the crash.
Four years ago, Nanda donated one of her kidneys to Nyron when both his kidneys began to fail.
Sundar-Rampersad, who described her sister as "one in a million," said the mother of three was determined to make sure her son survived despite what doctors had told her.
She told the couple's surviving sons that they would not understand why things happened the way it did, but "Nyron always said he did not want to go alone, he want his mommy and his daddy..."
All three were dressed in East Indian clothing and Ramcharan and Nyron wore matching turbans and outfits. At the end of the service relatives covered Nyron's coffin with a spiderman towel and placed a spiderman hat in his coffin. Relatives also placed teddy bears in Ramcharan and Nanda's coffins as well.
They played Nanda's favourite song, Shania Twain's Forever and For Always, which they dedicated to the couple.
Ramcharan's brother Harricharan Cassie, state counsel with the Customs and Excise Division, said the pain the family had experienced will never be erased. He urged mourners to remember his brother, Nanda and Nyron in their prayers.
Gender, Youth and Child Development Minister Clifton De Coteau appealed to mourners to reflect on their own lives and live righteously as no one knows when death will come calling.
He also called on relatives to take care of the Ramcharans' surviving sons.
The couple and their son were cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, La Romain, under Hindu rites.