-  Khayyam from the movie ‘Umrao Jaan’

- Father says goodbye to massacred wife and two sons

By Neil Marks
“We miss you so so very very much…We all love you very much.”
Rajkumar Harilall (Bobby) was filled with joy when he received a letter with these words from his two ‘little’ boys – Harry, 10 and Raj, 4 - recently. Their mother, Anjanie, 32, had helped them send it.

Unsolved murders

When he first received that letter, he was overcome with joy. But yesterday, Bobby could not bear to hear those words again.

The letter was read for him as he sat at the head-side of his two boys and their mother – they were in coffins, all dead.

RAJKUMAR Harilall weeps as his wife’s brother, Ricky, reads a letter he had recently received from his two sons. His wife and their two boys were gunned down last Saturday evening. At left in the coffin is a wooden toy music box the elder son, Harry, was fond of. 

(Cullen Bess-Nelson photo)

Bobby’s wife and his two sons were among 11 Lusignan, East Coast Demerara residents massacred last Saturday evening while he was in Trinidad seeking a “better life” for them.

The things that brought Mohandai Gourdat (Anjanie) and her sons Seegobind (Raj) and Seegopaul (Harry) the greatest joy, became the reason for the greatest sorrow when their bodies lay for viewing at the woman’s home.

‘Anjo’s’ younger brother, Ricky, was fond of his sister. He knew she loved music, so it was impossible for him to say goodbye without giving her some CDs to take with her. He placed them in her coffin as he stared in disbelief at her lifeless body.

SYMPATHISERS press for a glimpse of Mohandai Gourdat, 32 and her two sons Seegobind, 4 and Seegopaul,10 before they were cremated yesterday.

She was dressed in a yellow sari. The younger of her sons was at her left, and the older, at her right. They were dressed in Indian wear too.

Ricky knew his sister tried to be the best mother she could be to her “darling” sons, and so, he could not find a more appropriate song than Sundar Popo’s -“A Mother’s Love” to play. The sound of the music sent the assembly into loud, mournful weeping.

The air was then filled with the music of Khayyam from the movie ‘Umrao Jaan’, starring Rekha. The song was “In aankhon ki masti ke mastaane hazaaron hain". It was one of the last songs Ricky danced with his sister on New Year’s Day, just 23 days before she was slain.

There was hardly a dry eye as the relatives, friends and sympathizers listened to the music and gazed at the collage of photos hanging from a wall of the family house.

There were photos of Anjanie before her marriage to Bobby and there was one with the entire family with a line that read “a happy contend family.” Then there was Harry’s birthday celebration on January 3, and Raj’s first day of school. Yet another carried the caption: “Raj’s sweet smile for pict.”

Ricky remembered that his nephews were ambitious at their early age; they were “crazy” about his car. They wanted to have cars, too. They loved music, just like their mother.

The family placed in their coffins wooden toy cars and music boxes. Ricky would no longer hear their tender voices, laugh at their jolly antics or find happiness in their smiles.

But he would never forget those wonderful memories - “short”, but yet “sweet”.

The three were cremated at the Good Hope crematorium in the afternoon.

Friday, February 01, 2008