A devout Hindu, Harry Sooknanan sat vigil by the Orange Valley Fishing Depot for eight days, praying to Ganga Mata and Lord Hanuman that his missing son would be found.
On Monday, exactly one week after his son Hemraj “Alex” Sooknanan, 19, and six others were lost at sea after bandits forced them out of their fishing vessels, Alex’s body washed up.
Now although he said Alex’s murder broke his heart, Sooknanan said he is determined to spend the rest of his life in devotion, thankful that he has gotten closure and a chance to lay his son to rest.
Sooknanan said while he always followed the teachings of Hinduism, Alex’s death made him believe that God was real as his prayers were answered.
“My son make me believe God is real, I does pray to Hanuman Baba and Lord Shiva and I pray and told them, if alyuh can’t give me back my son, it have no God for me again in this world. I sit down by the waterfront and beg them for my son- Ganga Mata, Hanuman and Lord Shiva - I tell me if they don’t give me back my son, it have no God for me again, I don’t want to hear about no prayers again…You see they give me back my son?”
Alex’s body was the latest to be found after last Monday’s tragic robbery at sea. The bodies of fishermen Anand Rampersad, Brandon Kissoon, Leslie De Boule and Shiva Ramdeo have already been found while Justin Kissoon and Trevor Baptiste remain missing.
Speaking to Guardian Media at the Orange Valley Fishing Depot on Tuesday, Sooknanan said his son started fishing at the tender age of eight.
He was the sixth of seven children in the Sooknanan household and his father smiled sadly yesterday as he described his most loving child.
“He was a child could never find a “no” to tell anybody, anything you ask him to do he couldn’t find “no” to tell you,” he said. “
He said Alex loved the sea, just as he did in his days as a fisherman. Sooknanan believes the sea or Ganga Mata also loved his son.
Although he said he was unsure yesterday when the funeral service would be held, this grieving father has already planned how he will spend the rest of his days: in thanks for the gift of closure.
As for those who are responsible for Alex’s death, Sooknanan said he does not even want to see their faces.
“The kind of things will go through my mind I don’t even want to think about it. God will deal with them and the law will take its course, you see those seven innocent lives they take? You done rob them already, they could have tied up all of them and put them in one boat…it is little children you kill outside there.”