Khushboo Rajpurohit, a young woman from Jodhpur who lost her life in the recent Ahmedabad plane crash, was given a tearful farewell by her family and community on Sunday. Khushboo, who would have turned 23 in just 12 days, had been married for only five months. She was traveling to London for the first time after her wedding to join her husband, Dr. Vipul Singh, who works at a hospital in London.

Fate took a cruel turn when the Air India flight, where Khushboo was seated in seat number 192, crashed moments after takeoff, shattering her dreams of a new life in London. The news of her tragic death left her family and friends devastated, their grief flowing as freely as the rain that fell throughout her last rites.

When Khushboo’s body arrived at her in-laws’ home in Kharabera, Luni, the skies seemed to mourn with the family. Her husband, who she was flying to meet, had to return from London not for a joyful reunion, but to attend her funeral. A large number of relatives and neighbors gathered for her final farewell, braving the rain as her funeral pyre was lit by her elder brother-in-law, Yashpal Singh Rajpurohit.

Khushboo’s journey to London had been eagerly anticipated by her family. Her husband had returned to London after their wedding, while Khushboo stayed back to complete her visa and other formalities. On June 12, she finally boarded the Air India flight to join him. Her father had bid her an emotional goodbye at Ahmedabad Airport, only to receive the heartbreaking news of the crash on his way back home.

After a DNA test confirmed her identity, Khushboo’s body was handed over to her family at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Sunday morning. Her remains were transported in a Gujarat government ambulance from Ahmedabad to Kharabera, via Pali, with a police escort and family members following in private vehicles. Along the way, people stopped the ambulance to pay floral tributes.

At her in-laws’ ancestral home, Khushboo’s body was taken for cremation, where a somber atmosphere prevailed. The rain continued intermittently, pausing just long enough for the family to perform her last rites. Every eye was moist, and the cries of her father, husband, and brother echoed the family’s immense loss.

Her father, who had been so happy to send Khushboo off to London, was left shattered. The family recalled her last words to her mother before leaving home: “Maa, shall I go?” That voice still lingers in their ears, a painful reminder of the daughter they lost far too soon.