INDEPTH: AIR INDIA
Shyla Aurora: remembering 'Juju'
CBC News Online | 2001
Three hundred and twenty-nine people were killed in the Air India bombing. Eighty-two of them were children. Most of the people aboard Air India Flight 182 were Canadian citizens.
Friends and relatives continue to mourn their loss, but for most Canadians those who were killed are no longer names and faces. They're lost in the crowd of victims and the cloud of time.
We have put a name and face to one of flight 182's victims. Her name is Shyla Aurora. Her family called her "Juju." She was a 28-year-old flight attendant with Air India who was returning home after visiting family in Canada.
This is a portrait of Shyla through pictures and words shared with us by her sister Shipra and her niece Jyoti.
 LISTEN:
CBC News Online's Bob Sudeyko talks with Shipra Rana – June 2001 (Runs: 10:49)
Shyla Aurora (or Aunt Juju Didi) sipping coffee in England
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"Don't be fooled. Didi was as mischievous as a five-year-old. She looks quite pensive, but she's probably plotting her next caper! Boy - she was a bundle of fun and excitement. I remember her teaching me how to make tea. The entire simple process became a lavish Broadway event! She sang and danced through the whole affair 'Tea! Glorious tea...!' she sang to the tune of Oliver's 'Food! Glorious food...!' I was clutching my tummy and laughing happily at my 'Glorious' Aunt. Juju Didi was incredible."
–Niece Jyoti Rana
Shyla Aurora on a vacation to Bangkok
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"It's funny... I don't remember these photos at all while Juju Didi was with us but I remember looking at them a thousand times since she's left. Every time I look at them, even now, a rush of memories hits me. She was more beautiful than these pictures only hope to capture. Even when in serene thought she surrounded those around her with peace and calmness. She had her own style and grace, the kind that made people stare at her when she walked by. I don't think she ever knew what an effect she had on others. She was a gift we had been given to treasure and take care of until God needed her back."
–Niece Jyoti Rana
In 1957, Shyla was named the 'Dumex Baby,' India's equivalent to the 'Gerber Baby'
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"Shy was our parents' pet. They loved her very much as their child, but were also deeply in love with her for the person she was. We were the only two children my parents had. After her going away Dad lost his laughter, he used to be the life of a party with his poetry, that just died with Shy. Mum lost the lustre in her eyes. Never have they been the same again."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla at age 16
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"I try so hard to reflect back into the corners of my memory to remember one day that we fought or were angry at each other. I cannot find one. My relationship with her was such that it is difficult to explain - for even now talking about her makes my inner being dance with joy."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla about age 18
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"I could not for a moment bear anyone speaking harsh to her. I would take the blame. It hurts so much to have her not with us, not to see her smile and oh boy! did she ever know how to use those eyes. She could sell an icebox to one living in an igloo with those eyes."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla and Shipra
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"Shyla, how does one describe an angel, that is what she was. She was my laughter - my mischievous side was energized by her, for she was always so full of life that I cannot remember any time that we sat without giggling."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla in Bangkok
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"We, us kids, called her 'Didi', which means older sister. She was, in fact, Mum's sister, which of course made her our aunt. But she HATED being called that! It was totally cool with us because she was the cooler older sister that way. She played with us, read us stories, scolded us when she absolutely had to, and giggled and conspired with us when Mum wasn't looking. Most importantly, Didi always brought me yogurt chocolates from Frankfurt. They were my favourite!"
–Niece Jyoti Rana
Shyla shopping in Toronto
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"Didi always made us feel special. I was busy being teased at school by kids because I was kinda geeky and funny-looking... but on every trip she made to Toronto, she made me feel pretty. My sister was only a few months old when Didi passed away, but my brother and I remember her fondly."
–Niece Jyoti Rana
Shyla in Australia
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"Juju never passed a needy person without opening her purse. We learnt this only after she passed away and we went to pick up her belongings from her apartment, finding receipts for the amount she donated to charities and temples and churches, associations etc. Mum would always lecture her on spending her earnings so fast, she still would never open her mouth and tell about her donations – my gem!"
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla and her brother-in-law in Toronto
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"Whenever Juju came to visit me there was a pattern followed. A day prior to her leaving, I would tell her not to leave just yet. My angel would again flutter those eyelashes, twinkle in her eyes, smile a smile (that one cannot say no to), put out her hand and say "OK, only if you shell out $100." Of course I would run to my purse..."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla in her Air India uniform
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"?this was a known routine and everyone would laugh. My Mum would call her a blackmailer and she and I would laugh and laugh! If only she had asked me that unfortunate day again. But she kept insisting she had to get back to work."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
Shyla in Mumbai
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"My sister made me promise I would not cry when I saw her off at the airport, as she teased me that I would ruin her makeup, as she would cry too. At the airport I held my tears back for I felt I was losing something. I did not want her to go? kept avoiding eye contact with her. She came to me as she had to board soon and said 'how come you won't hug me or look at me, are you not going to miss me?' I called her a dodo bird and burst out crying. And so did she, claiming between those tears, smiling, that I was ruining her makeup. That is how I saw her lost and heard her last."
–Shyla's sister Shipra Rana
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