Harry’s story
By Ruby Yates (Harry’s sister)
When our dad was 11, he left his family home on the south coast of Mauritius to live with his grandmother so he could go to school in the town near her home. They spent 7 happy years together before he left Mauritius to come to England. Our great-grandmother used to call dad Harry-Krishna, and so when dad had a son years later, in Welwyn Garden City on 13th March 1975, it was an obvious choice to call him that name.
Harry-Krish was a happy, funny, cheeky and boisterous child with big cheeks and a gorgeous smile. He had a zest for life and made friends easily. We had a very happy childhood, always surrounded with lots of friends and family. Having wonderful caravan holidays, trips across Europe and fabulous holidays to Mauritius.
Harry-Krish enjoyed two years at Colney Heath Primary School, in the lovely village where we grew up before starting at St. Columba’s School, St Albans, at 7 years old. There he met his lifelong friends and the friendships grew in number when they joined up with the local girls’ school Loretto during their teenage years.
Soon after this time, Harry-Krish started driving and could not be missed in his bright orange VW Beetle. Beetles were the tradition in our family and he certainly loved his. He loved his cutting edge stereo with the speaker system on the back seat and friends squashed around it! Those late teenage years could be summed up with questionable 90s fashion, London nightclubs, trips to Bournemouth where we’d made fantastic friends – including a girl called Asha and were followed by Hip Hop music and faster cars.
In 1993, at 18, Harry-Krish started at Birmingham University and again made solid, close friendships that would last a lifetime and beyond. Finding it tough for him to leave home and become fully independent, our parents were nothing short of proud of him, just as they always have been.
Graduating with a degree in Money, Banking and Finance and 3 years of partying and living the life of a student led to his first job at State Street Bank, Canary Wharf. Harry-Krish house shared with some of the Uni lads and the passion for travel continued. Skiing and snowboarding around Europe, Brazil, Amsterdam, Mauritius all hot favourites.
At some point Wayland was created – a band with Harry-Krish being the lead singer and friends stemming from St Columba’s and others.
A gig in Tufnell Park has been mentioned frequently as the rock and roll image that was being created as he boomed out the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam amongst others was punctuated by “Sorry mum” when the language became a bit dodgy. Bad language never seemed to bother him at other times and some of his choice words are still being quoted regularly – especially by my children (and his)!
His passion for fast cars continued and I remember the day he bought his BMW – the car he said he would own when he was 25 and he did.
A few years later Harry-Krish joined, then took over the family business “KM Financial”, working closely with dad throughout at our family home in Hatfield.
Around this time Harry-Krish bought his “Batchelor Pad” in St Albans and lived there with one of his close friends from school. Around this time the girl called Asha became the love of his life and after proposing on a snowboarding trip with friends, they married in October 2005 – twice! A small, lovely registry office wedding was followed by a grand, beautiful wedding combining our Tamil rituals with Asha’s Hindu background.
They bought a lovely house in Hatfield, got a little dog, and set up an innovative business together in Luton and spent a lot of time together building then running this. Again, travel featured heavily as they explored the Far East, South America, North Africa, The Maldives, America and of course Mauritius.
Harry-Krish became the most fantastic uncle any niece or nephew could ever have living nearby and being part of their lives, before he and Asha had three most adorable children.
A daughter 5, two sons, 4 and 2 (at the time of writing) are the most beautiful, cute, mischievous (you can guess where that comes from) children and we are so lucky to have them in our lives. Harry-Krish lived for his children and loved their crazy, busy days and of course lots of travel.
In 2013 The Kid Gloves were formed from school friends and partners, with weekly studio times to get together weekly to sing and play instruments with passion and they have rocked their way around St Albans and Harpenden during the past year – creating quite a fan base! They also, without realising, have given us the precious gift of being able to see and hear Harry-Krish whenever we want thanks to recordings of their events.
His life will not be about those horrendous long, painful days that followed from the devastating diagnosis he received on March 21st2014, a week after his 39th birthday, and the suffering he endured despite his fight and determination. Nor should it be about the gaping hole and immeasurable sadness that we are all feeling.
It should be about the 39 happy, fun filled years and hard working life that he led, surrounded by people that he loved and that loved him. Thank-you to those that have shared that with us and read on to continue sharing…