Regina woman shares memories of husband who died in crash

A Regina woman is remembering her husband for his kind heart in the wake of the collision that took his life last week.

Sumesh Pulavathil, 38, died in a crash on Highway 39 last Wednesday, leaving behind his wife, Gayathri Ramdas, and their two children, a 12-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.

“He was such a lovely person, and he was very passionate about sports. That is why we moved from India,” Ramdas said.

The pair met during their college days at a campus recruitment event in India. They were friends for quite some time and got married in 2010.

“Even though we are from the same city and from the same place, our houses were very close, just three minutes distance, we didn’t see each other before until that interview,” Ramdas said.

Pulavathil passed on his passion for sports to his son, who is now pursing badminton.

“Sumesh was a sports person from his childhood onward and he loved badminton a lot. Our son was a provincial player in India. While looking at the opportunities, we thought to migrate to Canada so our son will be getting more opportunities here,” said Ramdas.

Even though they were very comfortable and happy in India, Pulavathil and Ramdas had big dreams in Canada.

They moved to Saskatchewan in September of 2022.

“When he first moved here, he didn’t think of a job. He just wanted to take his badminton coaching certificate,” said Ramdas.

Coaching badminton was his passion.

Although Pulavathil was new to the province, he coached other children in their community on weekends or whenever he had free time, at no cost.

Ramdas said Pulavathil lived a very active life. He loved hiking and cycling, the pair enjoyed travelling and exploring new places, and they would take long walks and hike for hours.

Her most fondest memory was when she and Pulavathil went skydiving in Saskatoon.

“It was my birthday and I always loved things like this. Even though he’s very afraid of heights and didn’t actually want to jump, he just wanted to jump with me. So that is why he took the decision to jump,” she said.

Ramdas explained Pulavathil was always cautious in life, so skydiving was a big deal for him.

“I just told him, ‘I know you’re scared but that is OK if you don’t want to jump,’ but he told me, ‘No, no, I just want to jump with you.’
It was so beautiful,” she recalled.

A GoFundMe page was created by the Regina and Saskatoon Malayalee Associations, both of which Pulavathil was an active member in.

They made many friends through the Saskatoon association. The group helped plan a badminton tournament, which Pulavathil played a key role in organizing.

“He took care of all the activities and whatever activities we have planned for some events, he was actively participating in all of those,” she said.

Ramdas admits she doesn’t know many people since moving to Regina in August of this year. But the associations bring her a sense of community.

“When I heard about his collision from the police, I immediately called the Saskatoon association and they connected with the Regina association,” she said.

The fundraiser has surpassed its goal of $75,000 to help cover funeral costs and get the family back on their feet.

Ramdas is not familiar with funeral costs in Canada but said the money raised will really help her family.

She said her family in India want her to return to that country, but she wants to keep her son’s dream going here in Canada.

“I don’t want to go back because we had a dream. We migrated here for our son,” she said.

Since Sept. 1, the Saskatchewan RCMP has responded to 22 fatal crashes throughout the province.

The accidents are spread out and the RCMP can’t explain the spike in accidents.