Obituary
By Yash Agarwal
It is with deep sorrow that I inform all that Mr KK Agarwal passed away on 15 March in Dehradun days before his 86th birthday. He is survived by his sons, Arun Agarwal and Hamendra Agarwal and his daughters, Geeta Agarwal and Neeta Gupta.
“The real joy in life is in working hard, staying ethical and living a healthy lifestyle,” are the words my grandfather, KK Agarwal lived his life by and ingrained in me ever since I was a kid. I saw his transition from a pure workaholic to someone who made increasing efforts to spend more time with family and friends but he always still managed to stay actively involved in work. One of his regrets in life was that he didn’t take enough vacations during the prime years of his life, something he tried to remedy in his later years. He would always tell me not to make this mistake and make use of every opportunity to travel and see more of the world.
Mr KK Agarwal was born on 28 March 1940 at Mudafra village, district Hapur. Though he only had a diploma in civil engineering, he went on to play a crucial role in the development of critical energy infrastructure for India. He was responsible for the construction of the Two Thousand Megawatt Tehri Dam, the highest rockfill dam in India and one of the tallest in the world, serving as Chief of Project. He was also involved in the construction of the Rishikesh Barrage, Nathpa Jhakri Dam, Lakhwar Dam and Uttarkashi Varnavrat Project.
He could never sit idle so, after he retired, he developed a housing society by the name of Yash Greens in Dehradun creating affordable luxury living. He was a patriot at heart and took pride in contributing his part for the progress of the country.
He was a true family man, a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He valued ethical conduct above all else. He truly believed that ethical conduct and disciplined lifestyle leads to strength of character. He believed in always helping people and would go out of his way to support people in genuine need. This is what brought him the greatest joy. A strong believer in Ayurveda, he was associated with Patanjali and the Art of Living. He practiced yoga, pranayama and meditation regularly.
In the past year he brought up how he was in the last stretch of his life a couple of times but I would always change the subject as I could not imagine a life without him and always believed that we would have many more years together. A true pillar of strength for me and my family, and as I write this obituary, I reminisce fond memories and can’t come to terms with the fact that he will not be around anymore. The only thing that gives me some peace is knowing the fact that he was content with his life. We will always miss him.
A prayer meeting is scheduled on Friday, 27 March at Ramteerth Mission, 59 Rajpur Road, Dehradun.
