Neighbours grieve at the Lee residence. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Thien Coo Lee was busy preparing for a colourful Holi with his nephew and nieces on Friday evening, before leaving for work at a city nightclub. He returned home after a 12-hour shift on Saturday to news that robbed him of all the colours of his life.

“Like every year, I had plans to play Holi with my friends and family… But on coming back home, I learnt that I had lost my mother and four other family members,” said Coo, sitting outside the family’s 28B Eden Hospital Road home, in central Calcutta.

The scene was much the same at his aunt’s residence at 81B Chittaranjan Avenue, where friends and family members trickled in to share the family’s grief.

But the 35-year-old and his twin brother Foo were brooding over the memory of their mother as scenes from the family’s last get-together — the Chinese New Year — haunted them.

“Due to our hectic schedules, we hardly have time to visit each other, which my mother never liked. So, she had told us that the family must have a dinner together after her return from Mayapur…,” said Foo, an employee with a BPO firm, while making arrangements for the Monday funeral.

He lost his mother Yueh Hou Lee and four other family members in a car crash early on Saturday.

Living in Calcutta for over 70 years, the Lees of central Calcutta have always observed Holi festivities. But this year, there was a special plan, as the elders in the family — along with the kids — had drawn up plans to visit the Radha-Krishna temple in Mayapur for Doljatra.

Of the six family members, only Meeli Chen has survived, but the six-year-old is fighting for her life in a city nursing home.

“My sister-in-law, Dalamu, was not going for the trip but my brother insisted that she join my mother and aunt, as there were three children in the team,” recounted Coo.