Grieving elderly couple erects deceased son’s statue at home

CHENNAI: An elderly couple based in Kancheepuram have installed a stone statue in remembrance of their son who died last year.

Karunakaran (80), a retired teacher of Vedasalam Nagar in Kancheepuram and his wife Sivagami (75), retired Revenue Department staff have installed it in memory of their son Hariharan (48).

Hariharan was married and living in the same house with his parents. However, on May 10 last year, Hariharan passed away after suffering a heart attack. After theirson’s death, the couple was depressed and decided to install a statue to keep his memory alive. They approached sculptors in Mahabalipuram for it. The stone statue of Hariharan costing around Rs 2.5 lakh was installed to mark his first death anniversary.

The statue was about 5.3 feet in height matching the physical parameters of deceased Hariharan. The parents also selected the paint that matched the skin colour of their son.

On Tuesday, as part of the first death anniversary, the couple offered poojas to the figurine. The couple had decided to conduct pooja every day and had placed the statue in a room in front of their house.