Air India families grieve privately and online
Video tributes posted for those killed in 1985 bombing
It was a tough Father’s Day for Perviz Madon, remembering her late husband Sam — dad to Eddie and Natasha — and a victim of the 1985 Air India bombing.
Despite the passage of 35 years, the pain from the June 23 terrorist attack never completely fades away, Madon said Sunday.
“It was such a long time ago. You know I have lived half my life without him and it just never goes away,” she said. “Since last week, the anxiety builds up and that grief and the loss and the senselessness of this all.”
Sam Madon, then 41 and a marine college instructor, was one of the 329 who died when a B.C.-made suitcase bomb exploded aboard Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland.
A second bomb-laden suitcase checked in at Vancouver airport detonated at Tokyo’s Narita airport as it was being transferred to an Air India flight. Two baggage handlers were killed.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge and a public inquiry determined the bombings were carried out by the B.C. Babbar Khalsa, headed by former Burnaby mill worker Talwinder Singh Parmar. Parmar was killed by Indian police before he could be charged in Canada.
Three of his associates, Ripudaman Singh Malik, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Inderjit Singh Reyat were charged in the bombing plot. Malik and Bagri were acquitted and Reyat was convicted of manslaughter.
Madon said it was only a few years ago that she learned about the longterm impact of psychological trauma.
“That loss is so terrible. My kids were denied a lot. Today’s Father’s Day and I have been thinking of that. It’s hard on all of us. It’s taken a toll.”
Both her children, as well as two grandchildren, now live in Australia.
Madon pushed hard to get the Air India Memorial built in Stanley Park in the mid-2000s. “It’s something to bring attention just to keep their memories alive,” Madon said.
Normally, local families and supporters gather each June 23 at the monument near Second Beach to remember the Air India victims.
But this year, because of restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the services are being held in person.
Instead, the Air India Victims’ Association created a YouTube channel so that video tributes can be posted and shared around the world.
“There are many of us who choose the opportunity to mourn together because we lost our loved ones together. And unfortunately, we won’t have an opportunity to do that,” said association member Susheel Gupta, who was just 12 when his mom Ramwati perished in the bombing.
“I think it’s important that we do something to remind Canadians that terrorism isn’t something that just happens overseas. It has happened here. It is happening here. There are terrorists in our country and we have to remain vigilant.”
Anyone who wants to send a video for the site can email it to AirIndiaMemorial@gmail.com.
Participants in the annual service at the memorial in Ahakista, Ireland — near where the plane crashed into the sea — will also be making videos for the channel instead of hosting the seaside event this year.
Gupta, who now has two little girls, said he took them to the Ottawa memorial Sunday. Knowing his mom will never meet his kids weighs on Gupta “every single day.”