Possible victim of floods had sought a simpler life
Sister says man who was found dead in his car loved nature
Poonam Uppal knew her brother could still find solace in nature. Dharamendra Uppal would call her in Orlando, Fla., and tell her how he had just spent hours in a “wooded area” somewhere around Houston, often walking or jogging for miles. She was concerned about her brother’s well being, but he assured her he was fine.
“I can stay the whole day,” he would tell her. “I brought my cold drink, I have food with me. I have some fruits.”
Poonam still worried, especially when he donated many of his possessions so he could lead a more simplistic, ascetic life.
Weeks ago, she received a call from a Houston number, an investigator on the other line. He said that hours earlier her brother had been found dead in his car, in what was believed by authorities to be the result of the deadly April floods that had already claimed eight lives.
While it’s still unknown exactly how or when the longtime Houstonian died, one part of the story is clear. He was found in a remote section of Cullen Park in west Houston. It was just a few steps away from the nature he loved.
Poonam knew her brother’s preference for the natural, the simple, had grown over the course of a couple of years and reflected major life changes.
After he was divorced in 2011 and sold his import business, he donated many of his possessions, she said. After their mother died, she saw her brother going deeper down his new path, choosing to live in a Hindu temple where he could meditate for hours.
Often he would not eat anything until 3 p.m. She heard that he had recently taken an apartment close to the airport but did not know which one.
“From what I’m guess-
ing, he was completely detached from the world,” said Poonam, an author.
She said he may have been on the path to becoming a Sannyasi, one who rejects everything from this life in a quest to become closer to God.
While she had not seen or spoken to her brother in months, she planned to squeeze in a Houston visit on her next trip to India, right around her birthday in June, she said.
Now, she’s left with the gripping thought that Dharamendra may have died April 18, the same day 15 inches of rain forced officials to shut down Cullen Park, which also happened to be her brother’s 53rd birthday.
He was found May 3 when two bike riders entered the park from a side gate, circumventing the barricades that would have made it impossible for a car to enter or exit the park. The riders saw his red 1998 Chrysler two-door was in a remote parking lot in the otherwise silent park. Inside, police officers found clothing and the car windows covered with sheets.
“I don’t know if he was living in his car,” his sister said. But on occasion he would confide how he’d spent the day in the car. “That I know,” she said.
She’s anxious to hear results of her brother’s autopsy. She still doubts her brother, whom she described as healthy and well-built, could have perished in the floods.
“I’m not believing he can’t figure out it’s raining and he should get out of that place,” she said. Instead, she wonders if he suffered cardiac arrest during one of his marathon jogs.
“It’s not justified he died as an unknown person,” she said.
Calls to various temples around Houston failed to yield any results, and Poonam could not recall which temple he belonged to. She hasn’t been to Houston in years and didn’t know what part of town he used to live in. However, a search through business records showed he once owned two businesses, Durakad Imports and India Bazaar Warehouse off Harwin.
Poonam plans to send her brother’s ashes to India to be scattered along the flowing waters of the Ganges River.