RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
A week before she would have celebrated her 23rd birthday, Reane Nayan was buried along with her boyfriend Andre Ross yesterday.
Both of them perished in a car crash along the M2 Ring Road in Golconda on July 17.
The couple had separate funerals but both bodies were buried at the Monkey Town Public cemetery.
Nayan’s family, including her twin sister Leane, was inconsolable as her body was taken into the church in a shiny casket lined with pink satin. Pink had been Nayan’s favourite colour.
Kissing her twin on the forehead, Leane cried, “I already bought your birthday gift. I buy all the balloons. Now you gone and leave us. Look how the rain falling. You used to say listen to the rain and you will sleep.”
Delivering the eulogy, Leane said they did everything together. As twins, they were always compared to each other but this never affected their love for one another, she added.
Describing Nayan as ambitious, extraordinary, determined and dedicated, Leane said Nayan was a firm believer in inter-racial unity.
“She loved her family deeply. A wonderful kindhearted and gentle person. She studied for a Bachelor degree in Art and graduated with First Class Honours. She attended school her entire life and she was now starting to live and earn money of her own,” Leane said.
She revealed that Nayan always expected early death.
She said Nayan did all that was expected of her and believed firmly in “One Love.”
“She loved Andre and he gave her all he had. She often said there is no room for racism in this society. She said more attention should be given in the fight against racism,” Leane added.
The day before she died, Nayan cooked lunch with her sister and they laughed and talked.
Leane also had words of consolation for her parents.
“On the day of Reane’s death, we found her wearing daddy’s wedding ring on her left hand and mommy’s wedding ring on her right hand. She wore it because your union meant more to her. She always wanted you to know how happy she was that you accepted her interracial relationship. It meant the world to her that you never treated her less for loving someone out of her race,” Leane said.
Rev Clifton Mathura, Presbyterian Minister of the Diamond Pastoral Region, said Nayan’s life was a blessing to others. He said mourners must remember the Calvary and the sacrifice that Jesus made to save people from their sins.
Several of Nayan’s friends also offered words of comfort. One friend said Ross made her happy.
“Reane was an advocate for douglarising the nation. She left us with a hole in our heart but we must fill this hole with ambition, love, humour and happiness. Do not become numb to tragedy and loss of life, because life is a blessing,” the friend said.
Chrishel Williams said Nayan made everything an adventure and always wanted to make her family proud.
“Even mealtime was an adventure. She had a way of creating a loving environment and she never gave up on anyone,” Williams said.
Nayan and Ross had been together for three years.
They went to San Fernando to buy an alarm and were returning to Nayan’s home around 10.30 am, when the Honda Civic in which they were travelling slammed into a Toyota Fortuner, driven by Hansraj Rajkumar, 69, a retiree, of Mc Bean Village, Couva.
Police said Rajkumar was heading east along the M2 Ring Road, Golconda, when, upon reaching the NGC Booster Station, he collided with a blue Civic driven by Ross, who was heading in the opposite direction.
Both Nayan and Ross died on the spot.