In the first episode of Netflix’s latest docu-series ‘American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden’, there is a blink-and-miss moment that nevertheless carries a lot of weight for the Telugu American community.
The name ‘Vamsikrishna Pendyala’ briefly flashes on screen as one among thousands killed on September 11, 2001. He had been one of the passengers of the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Centre. A young engineer-dreamer like lakhs of other Indians, Vamsi’s American journey ended in unimaginable tragedy.
A native of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, Vamsikrishna graduated from the prestigious BITS Pilani and moved to the US in the early 1990s to pursue a Masters course.
Known as “Vamsi” among friends, he built a successful career in software consulting, eventually rosing to the position of a project manager. He lived in Los Angeles with his wife, K. Prasanna, whom he married in 1999 after the two met at a family function in India: a love story worth retelling. He encouraged her to pursue her higher studies in the US and assured her of all his support.
On the fateful morning of 9/11, Vamsi had boarded the American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, heading home after a work trip. He was to return earlier, but work kept him in Boston till that day.
Before the plane took to the skies, he had left a simple message for his wife, saying that he would meet her soon.
However, that was not to be, as his was the first plane to crash into one of the World Trade Center’s Towers.
Prasanna, who was home when the news broke, was in shock. She later declined professional help like counselling and told her friends that she would cope.
However, grief overwhelmed her, and a month or so after Vamsi’s death, she died by suicide in their Los Angeles apartment.
The couple had no children. Friends from BITS Pilani—devastated by the loss of one of their own, came together and launched a scholarship in his name—intended to honour Vamsi’s memory and life.
A quarter century later, as the Netflix show revisits the global manhunt for Bin Laden, that lone Telugu name is sure to make certain hearts sigh heavier.
