Ashwini flanked by daughters Vanditha (left) and Drithi on the Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday

BENGALURU: A number of weeks in the past, a really proud father went to the airport to see Drithi off as she took wings to fly solo to check Artwork & Design at New York prestigious Parsons’ Faculty of Design.
A heat kiss on her brow being the searing picture imprinted within the minds of household associates who accompanied them on that night time’s journey.
On Saturday, as she made the return journey to Bengaluru, alone in her grief on the lengthy 24-hour journey, a stricken and shocked Drithi might solely stare at her father Puneeth Rajkumar’s physique in a glass field with out uttering a phrase, eyes welling up in disbelief. Flanked by her mom Ashwini and youthful sister Vanditha, she tried to maneuver nearer to her dad and when different relations realized that she needed to the touch him one final time once more, they lifted the lid of the glass casket. As she positioned her hand on her dad’s head, tons of of relations, movie personalities and die-hard followers wept.
“Whereas we relations had been consoling one another out right here, Drithi was there alone making an attempt to come back to phrases with the tragedy that had struck them. Given the issues associated to pandemic-related journey logistics, we thought she might not be capable to make it to see her dad. However she did be part of within the moments of grief,” a Sandalwood actor related to the Rajkumar household mentioned.
She took the primary accessible flight out of New York and reached Delhi on Saturday afternoon. Protocol officers at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi ensured that her safety clearances had been completed shortly in order that she reached Bengaluru by night. Sources mentioned she went to her residence earlier than coming to Kanteerava Stadium flanked by her mom and sister.
After touching her dad, she turned again to her mom and hugged her tightly as tears rolled down. The sisters had been inconsolable as they held onto their weeping mom. Elder cousins Vinay Rajkumar and Guru Rajkumar consoled them whereas uncles Shivarajkumar and Sri Murali too hugged them.
Each the sisters had been seen leaning their heads on their mom whereas followers continued to pay their respects to their favorite star. A lensman, who tried to seize that second of grief, nearly broke down saying: “That scene of them collectively is troublesome to erase from reminiscence.”