Varun had collapsed on the field and breathed his last while playing soccer on February 7 at Gold Coast, in South-East Australia. His body was brought to Bangalore on Friday morning.

Gloom prevailed over the Indiranagar house of Varun ever since his parents-Harsha Gaonkar, a retired squadron leader and a businessman, and Radhika an ad-professional, received news of their son’s death. They were highly inconsolable as the body reached the house.

“Varun was a brave guy and was passionate about Australia, its culture, environment and people. He wanted to settle down there and chose Gold Coast as his destination for higher studies after completing engineering in Tumkur. He went to Gold Coast in 2005 and finished MS in Environmental Engineering last year and took the job of the Environmental engineer,” recalled his relative, Anil Nayak.

Good player

Nayak said Varun was a very good soccer player. “He came to India in January this year and stayed with his parents for 10 days. It looks he might have died due to cardiac-related problems, but his death report does not mention the reason for his death,” he noted.

“He used to take care of people around him and brought out a couple from a burning car and saved precious lives in Gold Coast. His acts were lauded by a section of the Australian media,” Nayak added.

The day following his death, on the same playground in Gold Coast, thousands of people including soccer lovers and players assembled and paid their respects to Varun. They lit candles and placed roses on the same place and observed silence, recalled Nayak.