Eyes brimming with tears, Shashi Tharoor, son Shiv and family say goodbye to Sunanda
The mood was sombre, the sky grey and the wet winter chill numbing the senses as one tried searching for an answer to the sudden demise of Sunanda Pushkar.
Inside the Lodhi Road crematorium people had gathered to pay their last respects to Pushkar, the wife of Congress leader and junior HRD Minister Shashi Tharoor, who was found dead at their hotel room on Friday evening.
Tears rolled down Tharoor's eyes as he rested his head on the shoulder of Shiv Menon, Pushkar's 21-year-old son from a previous marriage, even as the flame slowly engulfed what was once a beautiful face.
The grieving 21-year-old son of Sunanda Pushkar, Shiv, being consoled by family members near her pyre
Family members and friends were already present at the crematorium when her body reached the venue. Pushkar's body was handed over to Tharoor by AIIMS officials about 2.20 pm, following the completion of a two-hour long autopsy.
As the vehicle carrying her body reached the funeral ground, Shiv and her brother, along with two members of her family, stepped forward to carry the The mood was sombre, the sky grey and the wet, winter chill was numbing to the senses as one searched for an answer to the sudden death of Sunanda Pushkar. bier.
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Tharoor too offered to shoulder his wife's body.
Tears welled up in his eyes as the procession reached the spot where the funeral was to be performed.
Shiv lit the pyre as the family members watched, sobbing and comforting each other.
Pushkar's father, Lt-Col (retd) Pushkar Nath Dass, had apparently gone into a state of shock after he saw his daughter's body at the AIIMS morgue.
Tharoor was seen next to Pushkar's father as the fire consumed her body.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and his predecessor Ashok Chavan were there to pay their respects.
Minister of State for Home, RPN Singh also attended the funeral.
Fashion designer Ritu Beri and her husband were spotted at the funeral ground. Sabaah Sheikh, a Delhi-based socialite who was present at the venue, spoke of her friend.
With eyes brimming with tears, Shashi Tharoor carries the bier
"She was the most vivacious, honest and forthright person I have come across. It is deeply saddening that she is no longer with us. She was a real sweetheart and we have had so many laughs together. I'll really miss her," Sheikh said.
Among others to pay their respects were Delhi socialite Aarti N Singh, Anjolie Ela Menon, one of India's leading contemporary female artists, and former Doordarshan anchor and socialite Nalini Singh.
Pushkar's close friend Sonia Kumar, who was there during the cremation, said: "She was a gem of a person, very happy-go-lucky, most importantly a giving human being. We were very close friends and it's heartbreaking for me to even begin to think that I won't see her smile again."
Earlier in the day, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien, Union Minister for Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi and several MPs and Congress leaders from Kerala paid their homage.
Later, Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Tharoor's Lodhi Estate bungalow. Defence Minister AK Antony, MoS Parliamentary Affairs and Planning Rajeev Shukla and senior leaders like Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Mukul Wasnik and Ashwini Kumar too visited his residence.
"This is so tragic. I knew her well. She was a warm and charming woman. Those who know her will miss her. My heart goes out for the family," Union HRD Minister and Tharoor's boss MM Pallam Raju said. - With inputs from Mansi Tewari
An ambulance and representatives of the media outside the Tharoors' residence
SHE HAD BOLLYWOOD DREAMS FOR SON
By Priyanka Srivastava
At IIFA 2011 held in Toronto, the late Sunanda Pushkar had revealed to Mail Today how she nursed Bollywood dreams for her son, Shiv Pushkar Menon. Nattily-suited Shiv was spotted hobnobbing with Bollywood biggies at the awards ceremony. Shiv, then 19, had accompanied mom Sunanda on the red carpet.
Curious onlookers wanted to know who the young boy was, and she was quick to introduce him to the media crowding around. "My son Shiv is a huge Bollywood buff and is hoping to work in films one day," she said then, adding that the young man was learning the art of film-making.
Shiv had also enrolled himself in Anupam Kher's Acting School in Mumbai and was a regular at the local gym to get into shape before he started to make rounds for auditions.
Reports suggested Sunanda was hoping for a dream launch for her son and was in talks with several film-makers whom she met on and off at high-profile page 3 parties in Mumbai and Delhi. Anupam Kher, a good friend of Sunanda because of their Kashmiri connect, was reportedly mentoring the Dubai-bred Shiv to fulfil his Bollywood dreams.
In 2010 Sunanda, just-married to Shashi Tharoor, had turned up sporting mehndi along with Shiv at a prominent party hosted by socialite Parmeshwar Godrej. In that party, too, she had introduced her son to several from the Bollywood brigade.
Shiv is Sunanda's son from her second marriage to Sujith Menon, who died in a road accident.
The Pakistani journalist whose life mirrors that of the Tharoors
By Hamza Ameer
Mehr Tarar, the Pakistani journalist who was in the Twitter triangle involving Shashi and Sunanda Tharoor and publicly accused by Sunanda of stalking her husband and of both of them having an affair, works for the Daily Times newspaper in Lahore.
'I'm sitting here crying. My nephew can't stop shaking. My son has gone silent. We talked about nothing but her tweets to me. And now this. I'm so upset. My heart's breaking for her son. I can't stop crying. Yesterday the social media was telling her not to tweet so loosely, now I'm responsible?' said Mehr Tarar after learning of Sunanda's death
It was as a journalist that she met Shashi Tharoor a few times and remained in touch with him, exchanging emails and messages.
These exchanges sparked off the heated Twitter war that finally ended in the tragic death of Sunanda.
Tarar has denied accusations of an affair with Tharoor, saying that her relation with Tharoor was limited to emails and tweets.
"I used to send him my articles and he used to send me his comments. That was all," Tarar maintained.
Mehr said she kept up her contact with Tharoor because she was thinking about writing a book about Kerala, which is his home state.
Tarar though found herself in a sticky corner when a tweet of hers' was dug out which said that she found Tharoor's voice to be "mesmerising".
This was construed to be an expression of attraction from her side.
She also denied Sunanda's accusation that she was an ISI agent.
Since the mysterious death of Sunanda, Tarar has been keeping to herself in her house in Lahore, away from any media presence and refusing to respond on the issue.
Tarar would have fitted in well with the Tharoors and their social circle since her life mirrored theirs in many ways.
She was born to Lahore's elite, in a family that had several prominent public figures and politicians, including the ninth president of Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar.
Muntazar Hussain Tarar is a popular radio and television host and a very well-known author.
She studied in the University of West Virginia in the US for a journalism degree and joined Friday Times and the group's business news channel Business Plus.
Tarar was married to a businessman in West Asia but is now divorced.
She has a teenage son who also lives with her.
