Rajiv Ruparelia
It is lazy and even a bit reductionist to—as many have—come to the conclusion that Rajiv Ruparelia lived the vast bulk of his 35 years of life in the fast lane. The last of property magnate Sudhir Ruparelia’s three children, Rajiv died on May 3 in a car crash at the Busabala flyover on the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway (KEE). By press time, the cause of the car crash still rested on the cornerstone of conjecture, with police investigations in their infancy.
Many, however, found it impossible to resist the temptation to consider the dimensions of two things at an elemental level. Firstly, that the inadequate signage and poor lighting of the stretch of the KEE in question has contrived to turn it into a black spot. And, secondly, that the top speed (north of 300 km/h) of the car—a Nissan GT-R—Rajiv was driving under a pitch dark sky shortly before 2am is so frightening that automobile buffs have christened the machine Godzilla.
Images of the Nissan GT-R burnt to a cinder were as shocking as anything anyone could ever encounter.
The fatal crash on the KEE came exactly 16 years after Riyaz Kurji passed away in a horrific high-speed car crash during the Pearl of Africa Rally. Riyaz died instantly on May 2, 2009 after losing control of his Subaru N8 before crashing into a tree. Such was the shock and vulnerability that the high-speed crash delivered that Sayed Kadri, Riyaz’s co-driver who remarkably walked out of the car wreckage unscathed, was scarred for life.
Kadri experienced a panic attack when he stepped back into the cockpit of a Mitsubishi Evo9 to navigate Kuku Ranjit during a super special stage in 2015. He died in his sleep last March aged just 58.
Looking up to Riyaz
Rajiv, who was born on January 2, 1990, idolised Riyaz while growing up.
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