24-year-old Jismon Shaju, an engineering graduate from Ernakulam district, had gone to Bengaluru to boost his chances of succeeding in a job interview scheduled for a few days later.

But Jismon and his family’s dreams were shattered on Thursday after the devastating RTC bus accident resulted in the death of the young man and 18 others.

“Jismon had received a call for a job interview from a company in Bengaluru. The interview is yet to happen, but he had gone there to meet his cousin who works in the same company, so that he could get some tips on how to crack the interview. But now, he will not be needing those tips again,” Jismon’s next door neighbour Silvi Baiju told TNM.

Jismon, a native of Thuravoor panchayat near Angamaly in Ernakulam district, had completed his engineering degree from Viswajyothi College of Engineering and Technology in Vazhakulam a year earlier.

According to his neighbours, Jismon was supposed to arrive home much earlier on another bus which he had initially planned to take from Bengaluru to Kerala. “As per his family, Jismon had decided to come in a private bus which would have brought him home much earlier. But he couldn’t get tickets for it and then decided to board the Kerala RTC bus. If he had gotten tickets for the other bus, he would still be alive,” said Silvi.

Silvi also shared that Jismon was devoted to his family. “One usually sees youngsters of his age being out with friends all the time. But Jismon was a family person who loved to hang around his father, mother and younger brother. The family, especially his mother, has still not come to terms with the fact that he is no more. He had talked to her on Wednesday night too, just hours before the accident happened,” Silvi says.

Jismon’s funeral was held on Friday morning at the St Augustine's Church in Thuravoor.

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