A neighbour outside Minal’s Mumbai home. (PTI)

Mumbai, April 18: Thousands of messages condoling Minal Panchal, who was among the two Indians confirmed dead in the Virginia Tech university shooting, poured in on the Internet even as her shocked neighbours and friends tried to deal with the tragedy.

Memorial services are planned tomorrow at her school, Our Lady of Remedy Convent School, in Poisar and Rizvi College of Architecture, Bandra, where she graduated from in architecture in 2003.

Over 14,000 messages condoling her death poured in at Panchal’s page on networking site orkut.com as the news of her death was confirmed by the Virginia authorities early this morning.

“She was a very bright student and a promising architect. She was deeply concerned about cultural values, and was particularly passionate about sustainable architecture,” said Pradnya Chauhan, one of her teachers at Rizvi College of Architecture.

Chauhan’s husband and the principal of the college, Akhtar Chauhan, described Panchal as “shy, introverted, sincere and hardworking”.

He said the 26-year-old chose to study “building sciences” at the Virginia Tech university because she wanted to learn advanced technology.

“I spoke to her before she left for Virginia. She said she had learnt enough of architecture philosophy. She felt it made more sense if she learnt advanced technology. She also promised me that she would return and work in India,” Chauhan said.

The college will hold the memorial service at 2 pm. “We have lost a promising architect. It would be appropriate if the government picks her project on Children’s Museum and allots land for it. That would, perhaps, be the best memorial for her,” he said.

Her profile on orkut.com describes her as a sensitive, intelligent person with a liking for dry, sarcastic humour. She listed the Harry Potter series, and classics like To Kill a Mocking Bird and Little Women among her favourite titles.

As news channels reported that Panchal was among the 32 shot dead by the gunman of South Korean origin, her friends and relatives began streaming into Park View, a middle-class apartment in Borivali, where the family has been living since the past 20 years.

Panchal left for Virginia in August year. Her sister Kavita is based in New Jersey. Father Hiralal died few years ago. Her mother Hansa had left for the US a fortnight ago to be with her daughters.

Neighbour Jayashree Ajamane said Minal inherited her passion for construction from her father, a successful architect.

“One of her favourite authors was Ayn Rand, who based a lot of her works on architecture,” said Riddhi Parekh, a friend who lives in the neighbourhood.

“Minal is one of the few who I would call a beauty with brains. She had a nice, caring nature towards her friends and enjoyed her life to the fullest,” said Adi Das, a close friend.