By Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) -Dozens of members of Britain’s Indian community gathered at a Hindu temple in London on Saturday for a vigil mourning the victims of this week’s Air India crash, many of whom had personal connections to the temple.
Leaders from the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Muslim, Parsi, Zoroastrian and other communities offered their prayers, as those in attendance, hands folded, recited chants.
A representative of Britain’s King Charles read out a message from him and offered Christian prayers.
Rajrajeshwar Guruji, head of the Siddhashram Hindu temple in Harrow, likened the grief of those who lost family members in the crash of the London-bound flight to the wait for a loved one’s return from an endless journey.
“They’re just waiting and waiting, now they are not going to come back again,” he said in an interview.
Guruji, who comes from the state of Gujarat where the plane crashed, said the temple had helped family members in Britain get information about their loved ones.
“Some of the members … I have spoken to them, and … they don’t have the words,” he said. “They are in shock.”
Britain has one of the largest Indian communities outside India, with nearly 1.69 million people – or 3.1% of the population – identifying as ethnically Indian.
“We believe that everyone who is born has to go one day. But I hope nobody goes the way these … passengers, as well as the medical students, have gone,” said Harrow Mayor Anjana Patel, who lost a family member.
Only one of the 242 passengers and crew on board survived the crash, while others were killed when the plane struck a medical college’s hostel.
Patel told Reuters that the council was offering grief counselling.
“We just cannot bear how people must be feeling,” she said.
Jyotsna Shukla, 66, said her son’s childhood friend was on the plane with his wife and three children.
“I feel very bad because he was so young,” she said, before breaking down into tears.
Among those killed was Vijay Rupani, a former chief minister of Gujarat, who had visited the temple.
(Reporting by Muvija M, Vitalii Yalahuzian and Isabel Infantes; Editing by Paul Sandle and Joe Bavier)
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