WASHINGTON: In a weekend ritual in tens of thousands of homes across India, parents and family members wait for or initiate calls to their children and siblings in America to catch up on mutual wellbeing. And so it was on Saturday when Aishwarya Thatikonda phoned home from Texas, to talk to her father T Narsi Reddy, a sessions judge in Ranga Reddy District in Telangana.
A few hours later, as news of yet another mass shooting, America’s scourge, flashed across television screens, Reddy called her back, worried that the incident had taken place at an outlet mall she had told her mother she would be visiting with here friend Shreyas only a few hours before. No response. She was dead at a young age of 27, buried in a pile of eight victims, including a five-year boy outside the premium outlet mall in Allen, Texas, where she had been shopping with a friend, who survived with gunshot wounds.
The shooter, later identified as Mauricio Garcia, a neo-Nazi extremist, lay nearby in a pool of blood, brought down by a cop who was in the mall on another call. According to local news media, Garcia was working as a security guard after his dismissal from the Army over mental health concerns.
America’s mass shooting epidemic, now universally seen as an ugly blot on the country, had wounded a home in India, which sends thousands of students and white collar workers to the United States each year. There is now genuine apprehension among many Indian parents about sending their children to study in the US, a colleague who recently visited India told this correspondent; they are looking at alternate options like Canada and Australia, seen as being much safer.
Like so many young undergrads from India, Aishwarya came to the US after a bachelor’s degree (in civil engineering at Osmania University) in Hyderabad where she earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2018, earning a master’s degree in construction management from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She found work soon after she graduated as a project engineer with Perfect General Contractors LLC, a firm in Frisco, Texas, 20 minutes from McKinney, where she lived, and an equal distance from Allen, all three outlying suburbs in the Greater Dallas area.
According to friends posting on social media, Aishwarya has visited India in 2022 for her brother’s wedding, and her parents were hoping to get married later this year. A local news outlet said he had been shopping at the mall for her 28th birthday later this month, one she will never see.
Also unseen among gun-lovers, including a majority of the Republican, is the chorus for gun control legislation in a country that appears to become inured to mass shootings, of which there is now more than one a day (198 in 2023 alone) They respond with “thoughts and prayers” and blame mental health of the perpetrators rather than the easy availability of guns, without which such carnages would to occur.
Among other pro-gun moves in recent months, Texas exacted a legislation in 2011 allowing “open carry” of hand guns without permit, license, or training. In a 2015 post, the state’s governor Greg Abbott had tweeted, “I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans.”
On Sunday, Abbott blamed anger stemming from mental health crisis for the carnage in Allen. “One thing that we can observe very easily is that there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that’s taking place in America And what Texas is doing, in a big-time way, we’re working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health crisis behind it,” he told Fox News, which largely and faithfully relays the pro-gun messaging of Republicans. In 2022, Texas was ranked last in the country in overall access to mental health care, according to data analyzed by Mental Health America, cited by the Los Angeles Times.
The only message Abbott posted on the latest massacre read: The hearts of all Texans are with Allen, Texas. Tonight, I joined my fellow Texans in Allen for a community vigil for the innocent lives lost last night and those who are recovering from injuries. As this community heals, Texas will be with you every step of the way.”
It was a meaningless sentiment to a family in Telangana which lost its daughter.
Watch Indian woman killed, friend injured in Texas mall mass shooting incident in US, kin want to bring body back
A few hours later, as news of yet another mass shooting, America’s scourge, flashed across television screens, Reddy called her back, worried that the incident had taken place at an outlet mall she had told her mother she would be visiting with here friend Shreyas only a few hours before. No response. She was dead at a young age of 27, buried in a pile of eight victims, including a five-year boy outside the premium outlet mall in Allen, Texas, where she had been shopping with a friend, who survived with gunshot wounds.
The shooter, later identified as Mauricio Garcia, a neo-Nazi extremist, lay nearby in a pool of blood, brought down by a cop who was in the mall on another call. According to local news media, Garcia was working as a security guard after his dismissal from the Army over mental health concerns.
America’s mass shooting epidemic, now universally seen as an ugly blot on the country, had wounded a home in India, which sends thousands of students and white collar workers to the United States each year. There is now genuine apprehension among many Indian parents about sending their children to study in the US, a colleague who recently visited India told this correspondent; they are looking at alternate options like Canada and Australia, seen as being much safer.
Like so many young undergrads from India, Aishwarya came to the US after a bachelor’s degree (in civil engineering at Osmania University) in Hyderabad where she earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2018, earning a master’s degree in construction management from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She found work soon after she graduated as a project engineer with Perfect General Contractors LLC, a firm in Frisco, Texas, 20 minutes from McKinney, where she lived, and an equal distance from Allen, all three outlying suburbs in the Greater Dallas area.
According to friends posting on social media, Aishwarya has visited India in 2022 for her brother’s wedding, and her parents were hoping to get married later this year. A local news outlet said he had been shopping at the mall for her 28th birthday later this month, one she will never see.
Also unseen among gun-lovers, including a majority of the Republican, is the chorus for gun control legislation in a country that appears to become inured to mass shootings, of which there is now more than one a day (198 in 2023 alone) They respond with “thoughts and prayers” and blame mental health of the perpetrators rather than the easy availability of guns, without which such carnages would to occur.
Among other pro-gun moves in recent months, Texas exacted a legislation in 2011 allowing “open carry” of hand guns without permit, license, or training. In a 2015 post, the state’s governor Greg Abbott had tweeted, “I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans.”
On Sunday, Abbott blamed anger stemming from mental health crisis for the carnage in Allen. “One thing that we can observe very easily is that there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that’s taking place in America And what Texas is doing, in a big-time way, we’re working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health crisis behind it,” he told Fox News, which largely and faithfully relays the pro-gun messaging of Republicans. In 2022, Texas was ranked last in the country in overall access to mental health care, according to data analyzed by Mental Health America, cited by the Los Angeles Times.
The only message Abbott posted on the latest massacre read: The hearts of all Texans are with Allen, Texas. Tonight, I joined my fellow Texans in Allen for a community vigil for the innocent lives lost last night and those who are recovering from injuries. As this community heals, Texas will be with you every step of the way.”
It was a meaningless sentiment to a family in Telangana which lost its daughter.
Watch Indian woman killed, friend injured in Texas mall mass shooting incident in US, kin want to bring body back