In fond memory of Arindam 'Go-Swamy'

It was the fateful day of April 26, 2015. Arindam aka Go-Swamy was canoeing with his friend on Sikander in San Marcos River, Austin. He was practicing for the toughest river rafting covering 60 miles in the river.  In a tragic turn of events, that became Go-Swamy's last adventure.

The fun-loving, amiable and outgoing Arindam Goswami was the second son of Dr Rabindra th Goswami, Dean, College of Veteriry Science, Khapara and Dr Archa Goswami, Professor and Head (Former) of Chemistry, Cotton College. He was just 31. A bright student of Don Bosco, Arindam passed HSLC in 2000 and Higher Secondary from Cotton College, Guwahati in 2002.

An engineer from NIT (Surat), Arindam joined IBM as a software engineer and went to do to his M.Tech from University of Texas, Austin. He was working with tiol Instruments as technical specialist there. During his stay in the US, Arindam found thousands of ways to follow the myriads of passions he had. He was multifaceted and tracking, canoeing, cross fit, running were just a few of the various activities he was interested in. He was also musically inclined and was a Visharad in violin. In school, he was also a play writer for his class.

Arindam married Meghali Das from Christian Basti, Guwahati. Meghali accompanied Arindam when he went to the US and was pursuing her MBA there. Arindam was a gem of a person. Loved by young and old, Arindam was known as an underdog fighter. Behind his adventurous side, there was also a soft side and he would adopt different types of pets-right from guinea pigs to rats and rabbits, even a honey bee keeper in his childhood days. His love for ture was unparalleled and he left no stone unturned to visit different places far and wide, whether it's a desert or snow-capped peaks, a sea beach or the darkest sky in the Utah, where night sky brightness is on a scale of 1 to 9. He had even explored the Death Valley, the lowest, hottest and driest area in America. He had visited myriads of beaches, deserts and snow-capped peaks. A glance at his Facebook profile will tell.

His death has come as an immense loss, not only for his family and friends but also for the State which has lost its talented son. No words can cajole his family and friends out of this void that he left in the hearts of everyone. May he always shine like the glowing sun like his me Arindam and may his soul rest in peace. Aristotle had said that life has a mysterious beginning, a troubled middle and an uncertain end and this was true for Arindam too.

A tearful adieu to Arindam!

- Chanda Choudhury Barua