Vivek Pandher, a 22-year-old UBC student, died on Sunday in Vancouver after he was found unresponsive at the Paradiso music festival in Washington late last month. The BC Coroner’s Service has launched an investigation into whether extreme heat or drugs played a role in the death of the young UBC student.
VANCOUVER – Vivek Pandher, a 22-year-old UBC engineering student who died on Sunday after attending a music festival last month, will have his organs donated, said his family.
The Vancouver resident was found unresponsive at the Paradiso music festival near Wenatchee, Wash. on June 27.
“It was clear he was very seriously ill and on June 30 he was transferred back to Vancouver General Hospital,” the coroner said.
Coroners are still working to determine the exact cause of death but say extreme heat may have played a factor. Temperatures at the music festival were reported to be as high as 40 degrees.
Vivek Pandher was found unresponsive at the Paridiso in the Gorge electronic dance music festival near Wentatchee, Washington, on June 27.
The 22-year-old electrical engineering student was transported to Canada three days later in serious condition.
He was admitted to the intensive care unit at Vancouver General Hospital, and friends said he was in a coma and breathing through a ventilator. He died on Sunday.
In a Facebook post, Pandher’s father Jaswant Zafar, a well known Punjabi writer-poet, said his son’s internal organs were deemed healthy and would be transplanted to other patients.
“The reason behind the compatibility is perhaps his O [positive] blood group. We pray for a long and healthy life of all the transplanted patients,” Zafar wrote.
Pandher’s family said the student had only signed up to be an organ donor last year.
Barb McLintock said the coroner’s service is examining the young man’s medical records and are probing whether his death is linked to the extreme heat at the festival, or if it’s drug-related.
A funeral service is planned for (today) Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Riverside funeral home in Delta.
Pandher, who was set to graduate next year, was an extreme sports enthusiast, whose passions were photography and videography.
“He was a very positive person. He would always be smiling, and always have something nice to say,” said Valarie Song, a friend of Pandher’s, who worked with him at UBC as part of the local organizing committee for the 2012 World Model United Nations (WorldMUN).
“He always checked in with his friends, and would make sure that everyone felt comfortable. He had this energy about him that was so infectious, so pleasant to be around,” she told Vancity Buzz.
“I didn’t really see him in person, but he would always check in with a phone call or a text,” says Terrie Chan, who also worked with Vivek on WorldMUN. “It still doesn’t feel real, but I know when I go back to Vancouver he won’t be there, and that’s weird.”
“He was just a free spirited person,” she says. She recalls a time when she and Vivek collaborated on a photo shoot, and he ended up bringing her to a wedding that day.
“I’m not a type A person. I like to plan out my life, know how to get here, know who’s there, when it ends. He never ever cared about the tiny things, the things that didn’t matter. He only cared about ‘Okay, this is happening, and I trust you, and it’s going to flow’. It was utterly inspiring.”
When it comes to friendships, Vivek touched many lives, in many profound ways.
“The best thing about him is, if you would even asked a hundred friends, all the friends will have different things about him,” says Karan Thurkal, who first became friends with Pandher during high school, back in their hometown of Ludhiana, India.
“Some people will say he was a very intellectual person, and you can just sit with him for hours, and talk about anything,” says Thurkal. “Some will say he knew how to live life, and he was the most adventurous person. Some would say he was the laziest, and you could just sit with him and relax for hours. There were many aspects of him that inspired different personalities.”
Pandher and Thurkal formed a band called “Zonks” in his native Ludhiana, after movies featuring rock music became popular in India.
“We were really inspired,” he told Vancity Buzz. “The city didn’t have any rock concerts at that time, so he contacted me because I used to play the drums, and he played the guitar, and asked if I would be willing to join. We jammed a lot, and then we did a rock show in the city. It was the first one ever.”
According to the Tribune-India, Pandher was also a well known artist, who was a budding photographer, video director, a guitarist and a creative writer.
He was well-known in Ludhiana as a street artist, who introduced graffiti in the city. Along with his band “Zonks”, he also had a major exhibition along with Ankur Patar, a digital artist.
Vivek did sill photography with some Punjabi movies and assisted a renowned film maker recently in Canada.
Mann Singh Toor, an artist said: “We have lost a talented young man. He was an amazing photographer. It is a shock for the literary and the art lovers of the city.”
