The unexplained death of Harshita Pal outside Nirmala College gate in Kandivli on Friday has left her family and friends devastated. Harshita, collapsed near the college gate and was declared brought-dead at the nearby Sai Hospital. The post-mortem reports of the second-year BScIT student are awaited. Sunday mid-day speaks to her father, Suresh Sherbahadur Pal, who describes a dutiful and fiercely ambitious 20-year-old. 

“She left home like any other day, smiling and touching my feet before heading to college. Just a few hours later, I got a call saying she had collapsed. We rushed to the hospital, but… she was already gone,” he said.

Pal, who runs a machinery workshop, recalls fondly that Harshita had hoped to pursue her higher studies abroad and eventually work in cybersecurity. “She would often say ‘When I finish my graduation here, I will go to the best foreign university’. But instead of going to a foreign land, she has gone forever,” said Pal. As per Pal, his daughter did not have any ailments. “She was a healthy, bright child with big dreams… we did not even get time to react or try to save her,” added Pal. “We hope it is not something genetic, because we wouldn’t be able to survive if something were to happen to our second daughter too.”