The Indians on board MH370

Theories abound on the Internet. What could have happened to the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 jet that went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing? At press time, there was still no definitive clue.

The search was on and relatives of those on board the plane were clutching onto hope.

Seven Indians - five Indian nationals and two of Indian origin - boarded the plane from Kuala Lumpur.

The Kolekar family

Among the 239 on board are a family of three from Mumbai. Mr Vinod Kolekar, 63, a retired engineer with Mahindra & Mahindra, was on his way to Beijing along with his wife Chetana, 59, a retired nurse, and son Swanand, 23, who had completed his computer engineering course last year.

They were going to attend the convocation of Mr Kolekar's eldest son Sanved, who had completed his PhD in astrophysics.

According to the Times of India, Mr Sanved got married last year and his wife had joined him in Beijing on Feb 23. He was previously a research scholar at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune.

A resident of Sukh Sagar in Borivili, where the Kolekars lived, said that this was the first time Mrs Chetana was taking a flight and she was both nervous and excited about it.

An engineering graduate, Swanand had appeared for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering and was awaiting the results. The Kolekars had planned to get back before they were to be announced on March 28.

A graduate in instrumentation engineering from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology at Versova, Swanand was planning to pursue MTech at one of the IITs.

Chandrika Sharma

Ms Sharma, 51, is the executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fish Workers (ICSF), based in Chennai.

She is an expert in the fisheries sector and issues related to fishermen.

The Velachery resident was on her way to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to attend a regional conference for Asia and the Pacific hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

Ms Sharma holds a master's degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and M.Phil from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram and became the executive secretary of ICSF in 2002.

Her husband is a consultant based in Chennai and their only daughter is pursuing her studies in English literature at Ambedkar University, Delhi.

Muktesh Mukherjee

A Canadian citizen based in China, Mr Mukherjee was returning from Hanoi with his Chinese wife Xiaomo Bai (below) after a short holiday. The couple's children - Mirav, seven, and Miles, four - are in Beijing with their maternal grandmother.

Mr Mukherjee, 42, is the vice-president of operations in China of Pennsylvania-based Xcoal Energy and Resources. He is the grandson of the late Mohan Kumaramangalam, the steel and mines minister in former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi's Cabinet.

Mr Kumaramangalam died in an air crash in May 1973 in New Delhi.

His uncle Milon Mukherjee, a Kolkata-based criminal lawyer, said his nephew loved to travel and wanted to visit Brazil to catch the FIFA World Cup.

Mr Mukherjee's plan was to travel with his father Moloy, younger brother Mohan and uncle Milon. "The four of us are a team when it comes to football," Mr Milon told Kolkata newspaper Telegraph.

Four years ago, they had gone to South Africa to watch the World Cup together.

He added that his nephew studied in India before moving to Canada for his higher studies.

Mr Mukherjee and Ms Bai met while he was in Beijing on business in January 2002 and they got married later that year.

Puspanathan Subramaniam

Petronas marketing manager Puspanathan Subramaniam, 34, almost cancelled his work trip because his two sons aged nine and four wanted him to stay back.

"My grandchildren acted weirdly and did not want my son to leave the house," Mr Subramaniam's father told the New Straits Times. His son, he said, was the first in three generations to get a "proper job".

He added that he and his father before him were born and raised in poverty in a rubber estate.

"We planted a tree and thought we will enjoy the fruit of our labour. I don't know what to do now," said the senior Subramaniam, who works as a security guard.

He tearfully recounted how he scrimped for years to fork out RM3,000 (S$1,170) a year to get his son through college.

Kranti Prahlad

Mrs Prahlad, 44, was on her way from Pune to join her husband Prahlad Shirsat in North Korea's Pyongyang. He is the country director of the international humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide for North Korea.

The Prahlads have two sons - Rahul, a Std XI student, and Kabir, who is in Std V. The boys lived with Mrs Prahlad in Pune.

Since her husband, who has previously worked in Tajikistan and Afghanistan was due to end his contract in North Korea next month, she decided to visit him before his return.

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