Sunayana Dumala, wife of slain Kansas engineer, blogs about returning to U.S.

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Sunayana Dumala, the wife of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the man who was killed in a hate crime in Olathe, Kansas Feb. 22, says she will be returning to the U.S. to continue to build a life inspired by his optimistic spirit.

In a Feb. 28 blogpost, Dumala details her story of meeting her husband in 2006, and their marriage, as well as how he helped her become “an independent, self-sufficient and strong woman.” She also talks of Kuchibhotla’s focus on innovation in the aviation industry. They ended up in Kansas and “This was the home that he had built to – for us and any kids we would have- was our first step to starting our family.” Dumala says in the emotional post.

She could not believe the police when they told her what happened to her husband, Dumala says. Her friends from around the country came and surrounded her after the tragedy. The very personal and heart-rending tale that dwells on private details about their marriage, even has moments of levity about their life together.

He loved watching “Person of Interest” and “Indian Idol” and Indian journalist Arnab Goswami’s shows on television; He insisted she pack his lunch, giving the “funniest explanations” for that – “… if you pack it, I will have that surprise element.” She also thanked Bollywood great Amitabh Bachchan equating him and his wife Jaya Bachchan to themselves because Kuchibhotla was 6′ 2″ tall to her 5 ‘ height; She gave a shout out to Bollywood idol Shah Rukh Khan saying Kuchibhotla was his “huge fan.” She indicates that U.S. lawmakers from Kansas were trying to speed up her Green Card process, and thanks the tweets of support from entrepreneurs like Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; and Sundar Pichai of Adobe, and others.

Dumala ends by asking what the U.S. administration was going to do to stop hate crime. And finally reiterates what she believes is a question in the mind of every immigrant — “DO WE BELONG HERE? Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?”