We remember our sister right from the age of 4 years. She was a cute chubby fair girl and always liked milk. We remember her always carrying the milk bottle. She also had milk during the midnight in her sleep. She cried “bee icheyi”, meaning give me the milk bottle. Our mother used to keep a small snack with her to feed her when she woke up the midnight –grapes, a roti etc. She was a very light eater and, while she was a kid, never ate enough during the day. Many times, the lunch box was never emptied at our school. But when anyone asked what she did at school, she replied “pappu annam intaanu”, meaning eating dal rice at school. Of course, she never ate. She was comfortable drinking milk after school at home.
Since our childhood, we were trained to sing hymns and songs and bhajans. Her favorite song was “manasa bhajare guru charanam”. The line “arunachala siva ….” was her favourite line as her name repeated thrice in there. She sang this song as many number of times as she could.
In 1992, Our father has taken us to the holy temple of Bhadrachalam. We vaguely remember that she was not sent in the queue first. She was asked to follow and not to lead. She got angry and never joined any family photograph taken during the trip.

She was fond of puppies and kittens and wanted a pet. One time, she grabbed a small puppy, brought it into the home, and placed it on our grandpa’s lap. Grandpa was doing his prayers and he didn’t notice the puppy. It was ekadashi, he realised that and took a shower immediately.
Our grandpa always imbibed us with knowledge from the holy epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and it became a tradition to listen stories every night before bedtime.
Our grandma was very orthodox and had a lot of traditions during lunch/dinner. Aruna used to make fun of this by placing her food plate on head, teasing our grandmother. Despite this, she was the favourite kid of my grandmom, for she was named ‘Parvati Aruna’, after our grandmom.
Aruna was always a people person. Everyone gathered around her once she entered the room. So, in the neighborhood, right from a toddler who could walk to kids her age (all the way into her teens) followed her around to play, sing, and have fun with all.

One more time, dad questioned her scores in Hindi test, and she claimed that her Hindi scores were added to their teacher’s son’s math score. She maintained this claim since that day.
Aruna was so cautious that during one trip, she didn’t sleep on the train through the night with the fear that we may not be able to get off in our station as the train didn’t stop for more than 2 minutes.
We were playing hide and seek. Our bedroom had stacked mattresses, where she hid herself beneath a mattress and dozed off there. We searched the whole street but could not find her. We were anxious and finally found her in our bedroom only.
She was fond of guavas and her gang always climbed the guava tree in our backyard. She played the ‘teacher, teacher’ whenever a dupatta was found. She was very possessive about her things. The sharpener dust was also not discarded by her. She saved her things deep inside her bag, wrapping around with multiple layers.
After she turned 12, she also began to write. Her story of ‘Suzi and Steffi’ was well talked about at home and her favourite story. She celebrated birthdays of her dolls and my mom stitched new dresses for the dolls also for their birthdays.

She loved flavoured rice – biryani, Pudina rice, carrot rice etc. But when a south Indian thali was given to her, she mixed all items and finally left the thali uneaten. We know, when she is mixing many items to eat, she will eat none. She also enjoyed pani-puri. All three of us, along with a few cousins of ours, ate pani puri several times a week... Me, Lavanya and Aruna always went together on our scooter for shopping, music classes, groceries, yoga classes etc. We were so close to each other. Our Chaitu always followed us and all three of us had fun.

She was so fond of Ilayaraja songs. Open the last pages of any notebook, you would always find the lyrics of songs written. She used to write pseudo lyrics for songs and sing the same tune as the original songs. She composed many such songs and sang them with ease very well. Many times, songs were sung in Chapter’s functions, family functions etc. When it was the invocation or the mangala harathi, we always sang together. We were called the ‘kandala sisters’ in our close circles. Our close friend Deepti Anapindi also joined us in singing classical songs. Our trio was called the ‘kacheri gang’.
We celebrated our Chaitu’s Upanayanam (Thread marriage) with great vigour. All the active participation was ours. Right from planning, inviting guests, organizing items, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed the event.
We also organized many get togethers in the Cost Accountants fraternity. All three of us are known for the halla-gulla made in these events. She was very simple, yet gorgeous.
Being the third kid in the family, a few things were handed down to her after both of us had used them. She was handed down books, toys, a desktop, scooter, phone etc. She always preserved these items with utmost care.
When Akshith and Abhignya (nephew and niece) were born, she was the one who accompanied me, Lavanya, in the hospital those four days. After returning home, she took utmost care of them. Got them toys, chocolates and what not! Aruna pinni was sought after and favourite one for my kids as well.

After her EAMCET, she joined GRIET, where she met many of her close friends. All these friends left many sweet memories for her. Her bachelor's was enough fun filled.
She always attracted the crowd, had a big following of friends. She counselled them and gave many suggestions to her friends. She readily helped many people. She was a very cheerful person, and everybody loved her company.
After B.Tech, with much deliberation, she took a decision to go for a Masters in the US and all of us supported it. She was super excited to come to the University of Texas at Arlington which is close to Houston.
When the day came, she flew in on her birthday 8/8 and celebrated the longest birthday to reach Houston. She had a good friend accompanying her during the flight. They were discussing about their prospects, flying out of India for the first time.
On the other side, I (brother) was excited to see her, got another friend’s apartment ready to let Aruna stay in for a couple of days, ready to celebrate her birthday. I am ready to re-live that moment again.

After a few days, I helped her understand things, let her fly to Dallas to go to UTA and get settled. I, with a family friend, drove to Arlington the following weekend to help her settle.
We both visited each other a few times during this time.
For her one birthday, I wanted to surprise Aruna. I went to a retail store to buy a 6-foot teddy, drove to her university to surprise her. She was a mixed bag of emotions. I wish I had a photo of her reaction on that day.
Aruna was a persistent woman and showed this in her thesis program. At times, pressure got to her, but she completed that thesis and graduated.

The Marriage Story and Second Phase of her life
So as Aruna was looking for the right person to match her energy levels, she had to wait for almost two years after she started working in Kautex when I (Srirama) finally got a text on March 31, 2014. We spoke the next day for the first time and the call went on for 3 hours non-stop. And then, I learnt that she’d be off to India on April 3rd and that our parents wanted us to meet before that. So, I booked a flight the next day and almost pulled an all-nighter to travel from Virginia to South Carolina and that was the first time we met at the airport when she picked me up in the morning and drove me straight to Starbucks near the airport. We both were really excited to meet and talk to each other (so were our parents) after the 3-hour call and as the day progressed, we understood each other more. I drove her back to Atlanta airport in her car and by the time we reached the airport, I knew that she is the perfect match, but I didn’t want to be hasty and returned to my friend’s place (the Prakhya family) only to know that both our parents already met each other and were ready to move ahead. The engagement was fixed within the next 10 days (April 13th, 2014) and with my friend’s support, I bought a wedding ring and decided to fly to India for 3 days just to surprise her for the engagement. Both of us were glad just to meet again after 10 days and excited to start the next phase of our lives. Below is the first selfie we took and our engagement picture. We spent a few more days in Hyderabad with both the families and I rode her on bike for the first time and I can still not forget it as the jetlag was overpowered by excitement that day. Yes!! We made the decision to be together for the rest of our lives in a day and I said to all my friends who were shocked to learn this that “we know it when we meet the right one” and so was she, full of energy, talking and smiling with her eyes ready to change my life for good and forever.

After she returned from India, we had several trips, she showed me Atlanta and Anderson and I showed her Baltimore and Virginia Beach, and I introduced her to my gang in Baltimore and NoVa region. Finally, we both flew to India together and we celebrated Aruna’s first birthday as soon as we landed along with family. The wedding and reception were celebrated like a festival by both sides of the families with more than 1000 guests for the reception and about 400 guests for the midnight wedding. She was a sweetheart, and everyone loved her.
After doing long distance due to H-1B visa issues for about a year and flying to each other’s place every alternate weekend, we finally moved in together as she quit her job at Kautex Textron in GA and ready to start a new life. We have been to many places like Vegas, Orlando, Atlantic City in the first year to make some wonderful memories. She had an amazing farewell from her colleagues who wanted me to move in instead of her as they said they were going to miss her a lot and gave her many mementos and gifts while leaving.
Life in Virginia
Aruna instantly became a friend to all my friends and their spouses in Virginia as soon as she moved given her loving nature and we had so much fun after we moved in together. She kept on searching for a job as well and finally when she found a job in Continental, Culpeper we were both happy and relieved as we knew it was time to settle down. We bought a new home in October 2016 in Gainesville and about a year later blessed with our little princess Sri. Our happiness had no bounds and we had so much fun with her. Then came our little prince Viraj whom she believed was a blessing of her Krishna and for a year and half, things were great and we had the best times of our lives with a complete family.

But in September 2020, a regular annual checkup turned into a nightmare as she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Our lives turned upside down. Along with family support especially from her mother, brother and sister-in law and my sister, mother and father and most importantly some friends she fought cancer for a year and her efforts were rewarded as Doctor said that there were no signs of cancer in Dec 2021 scans. So, we were all happy with the new life she got and went back to India right after for 2 months to celebrate our kids with the extended family and friends there. We made so many memories only to come back and be shocked by the fact that the cancer relapsed in lungs this time. But, we still had hope given her faith in god and the way she lived her life that this can be fought too like the first time, but little did we know that this would become as serious as it did in the end. She suffered a lot in September and October where she had IV antibiotics for almost 2 months followed by a surgery in the lung. She fought all this for her kids with a smile and strong belief in her Krishna. Over these tough times, she was in constant touch with many of her friends from school, college, B.Tech, Masters and Virginia as well and was always positive that she will recover from this and come back strong. However, no chemo drug was working and cancer got worse and spread to brain and liver as well at the end of February when she had her scans. She underwent radiation for the brain and we started a new drug to fight the chemo in the lungs, but the cancer was so aggressive that it took away her lung completely and we had to take her to ER as she had high fever over the weekend which turned out to be our nightmare trip. She was intubated as one of her lung collapsed with tumor and wasn’t getting much oxygen and the family from Texas and India flew in right away to take care of her expecting a miracle. Over her 5 days in ER, she had more than 100 friends and family who visited her from different states in the US and also numerous prayers and messages from friends in different parts of the world.
After fighting triple negative metastatic breast cancer for 2 and half years with a smile and positive attitude that even the gods might envy, my wife Aruna left this world to meet her Krishna on April 15th leaving behind a ton of great memories for family and friends and most importantly, her two kids for whom she fought for with a smile. She will always be there in our hearts and be remembered for following her deep rooted Indian culture, her radiating smile, infinite energy, helping attitude, fighting spirit and as the best mom ever. I couldn’t ask for a better life partner in the whole world even in my dreams and am sure that she will be with us forever and will fight with her Krishna for her family.
Lucky she was to have so many people who loved her and sad are we who have to live without her for the rest of our lives, but her memories and smile will remain with us forever.

Small poem in telugu by her father
కందాళ వారింట కుసుమం
అందాల అపరంజి అరుణం

నవ్వే ఆభరణం
పూర్వభాషి, మృధుభాషి
మృధుస్వభావి

మాటలతో ఆకట్టు
ఆటలలో ఆదిరెటట్టు
పాటల బాణి కట్టు
గాత్రం తో కనికట్టు

సలహాలతో చెలిమి
సంప్రదింపుల సఖి
సహాయానికి ముందు
సామరస్యాలతో విందు

పిల్లలు తో దరహసం
పెద్దలతో సహవాసం
అందరితో సమానత్వం
మరవని మానవత్వం

ఉపకారాల తో వెళ్లి
అనురాగాల కల్పవల్లి
చుట్టాల పాలవెల్లి
స్నేహం అంటే ప్రణమిల్లి

చదువుల పుట్ట
మెకానికల్ పట్టా
అమెరికాలో అడుగు
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Small poem in English by her sister
The Krishna blessed the kandala race
By gifting our Aruna, an ace.

Lovely and happy were those days
When she raised the bar with her pace.

All she did was to create a place
For herself, which no one could erase.

A helping hand did she embrace
Wow! What a charming Grace!

Set foot in the palagummi family with a love lace,
Raised two diamonds who outpace.


Then the Krishna also envied her ways,
And little thought if anyone could replace.


After her noble chanting, did he Chase,
And invited her to his favourite place

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