"He wanted to do bowling, he wanted to have his cake and cookies," said Rajni Kalipershad, his mother. "We were going to make a day of it because we don't really do parties anymore.

"Now we can't do anything."

Except grieve.

On Friday, a day Rajni and husband Slake had set aside to celebrate their youngest son, the couple and their relatives instead traveled back to their native New York to continue mourning a life that was tragically cut short.

Ravindra, known to friends as "Ravi," died Sept. 12 as a result of a skateboarding accident outside his family's home in the Georgetown at Preston subdivision in west Cary. He fell into the path of an SUV driven by a neighbor.

Ravi's funeral in Linbrook, N.Y., drew over 400 mourners, his father said.

He has since been cremated, his ashes spread on the shores of Kure Beach, one of his favorite maritime playgrounds.

"He loved the water and loved Kure Beach, even though we had only been there once," said Slake Kalipershad. "The waves were tremendous that day. We all got knocked over. He would have loved it if he had been there."

His parents are devastated by the death of their little boy. In an interview last week, they didn't want to talk about how Ravi left them.

Instead, they wanted to highlight what they say made him such an exceptional child.

The youngest of four boys, Ravi was extremely competitive.

This summer, Ravi took golfing lessons at the Lochmere Golf & Country Club.

He already had become an avid outdoorsman, his father said.

He was an aspiring marksman, having traveled often with his father to Georgia during hunting season.

"People used to say to me all the time that he was my redneck son," Slake Kalipershad said. "I'm an avid hunter, and he would go with me every season when I traveled."

His father also described Ravi as "the biggest [New York] Jets fan ever," and said his son was looking forward to watching Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez play this season.

"He would tell me that [Sanchez] was going to kick B-U-T-T this year," Slake said, noting Ravi's aversion to inappropriate words.

Rajni Kalipershad, meanwhile, spoke less of her son's hobbies and more of his character.

"He was just a ham," she said. "He did some voices, he did everything. He was almost a jack of all trades, a master of none."

"But it didn't seem to matter to him," Rajni Kalipershad added. "Whenever he would speak, he always had a smile on his face."

She said Ravi, like his older brothers, deeply respected his parents and others.

She said Ravi had begun exploring his independence, choosing this year to walk to a nearby bus stop on Council Gap Court instead of waiting with his parents outside their home.

Ravi was a student at Weatherstone Elementary.

She said that natural transition had been especially difficult on her.

"He was the baby," she said. "I was so protective that I was told I had to let go and give him some room."

But not like this.

And not so soon.