It was a somber gathering Tuesday night at the International Cultural Center as students and community members remembered Joseph Smiles Gotham, a 24-year-old computer science graduate student who drowned in a canoeing accident during Labor Day weekend.
About 100 mourners slowly trickled in until the auditorium was full.
Friends hung pictures of Gotham on a chalkboard while others lit candles to commemorate their loss.
“We are gathered here to mourn Joseph ‘Jo’ Smiles,” said Reji Varghese, Gotham’s roommate. “Nobody wants anybody to go like this.”
Varghese added that he and Gotham were so close that Gotham used to call him “uncle.”
Gotham was remembered by all as a talented guitarist. He performed Aug. 15 at the celebration for Indian Independence Day, said Shravan Kilaru, an electrical computer    engineering student who attended the event.
Sameer Bhavanibhatla, engineering graduate student, was with Gotham on Saturday evening when he drowned in Tylertown, Miss.
“I never expected I would be in this position,” Bhavanibhatla said. “It happened in a split second.”
Bhavanibhatla said two canoes had flipped at the same time, and most people there remember seeing Gotham swimming for some distance after the canoes had flipped.
“Once everyone was on shore, we realized Jo was not there,” Bhavanibhatla said.
Shivaji Kugya, a graduate student at Southern University, returned to the water where he found Gotham. With the help of a lifeguard, they were able to pull Gotham out of the water and begin to perform CPR, Bhavanibhatla said.
Bhavanibhatla believed it was Gotham’s heavy shoes that caused him to drown.
“The only job that is left for us is to pray for him and make sure his body is sent back home on time,” Bhavanibhatla said.
Gotham’s body is currently in Mississippi awaiting transport back to India, Bhavanibhatla said. Jyothis John, Gotham’s former roommate and current student at Southern University, spoke Tuesday about Gotham being mugged on the LSU campus two        weeks ago.
Gotham was approached by four people while on his computer one night, beaten and robbed, John said. He suffered from a large cut in the back of his head but had no health insurance to go to the hospital.
John told Gotham that “it is God who gave you another chance, so you must set things right in your life now.”
John said Gotham attended chapel frequently the past two weeks after he was mugged.
Kugya said Gotham had removed his life jacket about five minutes prior to the drowning incident. His friends thought he could swim.
Transporting Gotham’s body back to India is expected to cost about $8,000, Bhavanibhatla said.
As of now, the cost is being covered in full by the Telugu Association of North America,    Bhavanibhatla said. However, they are taking donations to help reimburse the cost of transporting his body.
Students and faculty should contact the ICC for more information on how to donate.
Gotham is survived by his parents and younger sister who live in the Andhra Pradesh province of India, John said.
 
 
 
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]