It was a suggestion that Ann Venketeswaran has regretted for 29 years.
Her husband Trichur Krishnan hadn't returned to his native India in over 10 years and, with a family wedding on the horizon, Ann suggested he take a trip to attend the nuptials.
On June 23, 1985, her husband, known to everyone as T.K., bid farewell to Ann and their two children at Pearson International Airport.
The family had no idea it would be the last time they would see each other.
Later that day, a bomb exploded on Air India Flight 182 and the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cork Island in Ireland.
All 329 people on board, including 45-year-old T.K., were killed. His body was never recovered.
Twenty-nine years later, the Air India bombing remains the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.
"The terrorists have never been found, prosecuted or punished," Ann said during an interview from the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her son.
The Venketeswaran family had enjoyed an idyllic existence before that fateful June day.
Ann, a registered nurse in Welland, met T.K. at a friend's birthday party in 1964. T.K. was one of 30 young men who had been sent to Canada from India to learn about the steel industry.
The duo struck up a conversation and Ann offered to show T.K. around the region.
T.K.'s studies later sent him to Norway and Sweden and then back to India. The couple wrote to each other every three to five days.
He returned to Canada and the two were married in 1966. Ann was 29. T.K. was 26.
A daughter Esther was born in 1970 and their son David followed 14 months later.
22/06/14 Stcatharines Standard
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Her husband Trichur Krishnan hadn't returned to his native India in over 10 years and, with a family wedding on the horizon, Ann suggested he take a trip to attend the nuptials.
On June 23, 1985, her husband, known to everyone as T.K., bid farewell to Ann and their two children at Pearson International Airport.
The family had no idea it would be the last time they would see each other.
Later that day, a bomb exploded on Air India Flight 182 and the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cork Island in Ireland.
All 329 people on board, including 45-year-old T.K., were killed. His body was never recovered.
Twenty-nine years later, the Air India bombing remains the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.
"The terrorists have never been found, prosecuted or punished," Ann said during an interview from the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her son.
The Venketeswaran family had enjoyed an idyllic existence before that fateful June day.
Ann, a registered nurse in Welland, met T.K. at a friend's birthday party in 1964. T.K. was one of 30 young men who had been sent to Canada from India to learn about the steel industry.
The duo struck up a conversation and Ann offered to show T.K. around the region.
T.K.'s studies later sent him to Norway and Sweden and then back to India. The couple wrote to each other every three to five days.
He returned to Canada and the two were married in 1966. Ann was 29. T.K. was 26.
A daughter Esther was born in 1970 and their son David followed 14 months later.
22/06/14 Stcatharines Standard
