Imphal, Sep 11 : The 15th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 on this day was also observed at Imphal as Jupiter Yambem of Manipur had also perished in the Al Qaeda attack.
The observation was held this evening at the Rainbow Retreat Centre, a project of the Kangla Universal Foundation, located at Langol Punshikhul Yumjao Manbi LeikaI in Imphal.
Jupiter’s elder brother and former Member of the State Human Rights Commission and senior journalist Yambem Laba led the offering of floral tributes to the departed soul. A two minute silence was also observed by those who had gathered in the memorial service.
He also highlighted the struggle and sacrifices which Jupiter had undergone when Jupiter landed in the USA in 1981 as an undergraduate Camp Counsellor of the Camp America Programme and how he worked as a waiter in a restaurant to finance his way through College at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
As a Senior Banquet Manager in the Windows on the World, the world’s tallest restaurant located on the 107th Floor of the WTC, he was supervising a breakfast corporate meeting and at work when the two jetliners crashed into the twin towers.
Survivors later recollected seeing Jupiter helping his colleagues to escape and must have reached the top 110 floor when the iconic buildings collapsed, for his body was discovered three days later. He was cremated in New York but his ashes were brought back home and immersed in the Loktak Lake and at the Gomukh in Gangotri the source of the Ganga river.
Tony Khuraijam CEO of the Rainbow Retreat elaborated on the need to emulate the sacrifices of Jupiter if people are to rise and die honourably. Sanjoo Thangjam delivered the vote of thanks.
