Dr. Ranganathan Character Analysis

Dr. Ranganathan is a world-renowned electrical engineer who lost a large family in the bombing. When he and Shaila Bhave first meet in Ireland, he says that a strong swimmer might have been able to survive the crash and swim to shore. Dr. Ranganathan’s optimism, pragmatism, and sense of friendship and authority give Shaila a jolt of hope, and he tells Shaila that it’s “a parent’s duty to hope.” His journey through grief is presented alongside those of Shaila and Kusum. After he returns to Canada, Dr. Ranganathan begins a job in Ottawa but can’t bring himself to sell his house in Toronto, which he has turned into a “shrine” to the family members he lost. Eventually, he takes an academic job in Texas, where “no one knows his story and he has vowed not to tell it.” He and Shaila continue to talk on the phone about once a week.