Haresh Chandra

Haresh Chandra was the husband of Gita Chandra, and father of Rani Chandra.

Biography
As a child, Haresh loved school. He first met his future wife, Gita in a museum. While he was in the museum to observe, she was taking refuge from the rain. When they married they honeymooned in Brussels, which Haresh enjoyed but Gita did not. (SJA: The Empty Planet, The Curse of Clyde Langer, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

Haresh became the head teacher of Park Vale School. When Clyde Langer and Luke Smith first met him he was angry at their class' behaviour. Rani pretended not to know him; she did not want her friends to know her father was the head teacher. Later, when Clyde saw a clown, Haresh did not believe him and thought that he was telling lies. The next day he was puzzled when students walked out of school with balloons. He put it down to a prank organised by Clyde. Originally upset that his daughter had taken part in the 'prank', he was pleased to discover that she was with Luke and Clyde 'studying at the library'. He subsequently offered to make them all tea. (SJA: The Day of the Clown)

Like Sarah Jane Smith, he was a Taurus and was one of the few not hypnotised by Martin Trueman; Trueman was stopped before he could get to Taurus. (SJA: Secrets of the Stars)

He fell victim to the Berserker Pendant twice: once when it was used by his daughter Rani, and again by Paul Langer after he stole the item from Sarah Jane's attic. When Rani used it on him, he performed random, meaningless commands: hopping on one foot, believing the pendant was a hamster, and doing an impression of a lion, but she soon stopped and had him forget when it began to scare her (she had almost accidentally commanded him to die by saying "You'd die if you could see yourself"). When Paul used it on him, he started by jogging on the spot, then was told to do push-ups. It was this command that almost caused him to die of exhaustion, as no matter what happened around him, he refused to stop. (SJA: The Mark of the Berserker)

He was pushed into putting plants in the Genetec building by Gita. When they put the plants in the reception, they were arrested by security, and locked in a room. However, due to Haresh's lock picking skills, they escaped and where looking for a way out when they where stopped by a troop of Judoon, whom Haresh unsuccessfully tried to talk to. As they were trying to escape the building they narrowly avoided bumping into the Judoon, who had just captured Androvax. On their return to Bannerman Road, Haresh and Gita told Sarah Jane and the others of their encounter, although Haresh doubted that anyone would believe them. (SJA: Prisoner of the Judoon)

Haresh attended the wedding of Sarah Jane and Peter Dalton, voicing his doubts about such a hasty union. Haresh was proven right, when Peter "dissappeared" before the ceremony began. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) He agreed to look after Luke while Sarah Jane was investigating a "haunted house". He taught Luke how to play Chess and ended up beaten at it by him six times. (SJA: The Eternity Trap) He began to like Clyde when he won an art contest which allows the school to see the Mona Lisa. Haresh was shocked when the painting disappeared. (SJA: Mona Lisa's Revenge)

In September 2009, Haresh recommended Luke take his A Levels a year early and apply to the University of Oxford. Luke took Haresh's advice, and was accepted to Oxford the next year. (SJA: The Nightmare Man)

Haresh was dragged to B.U.R.P.S.S by his wife, where she explained how they had seen two different species of alien. When they returned home, Gita saw Androvax in Sarah Jane's driveway, so sent Haresh over to check it out. He did not find Androvax, as Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani interrupted him. Later, he went to play badminton. (SJA: The Vault of Secrets)

When UNIT arrived at Sarah Jane's house to announce the Doctor's death, Haresh asked if everything was all right. Rani later hugged him and told him never to go away. He believed that Sarah Jane was grieving and denying the Doctor's death. He told Clyde that he'd know about static electricity if he paid attention in class. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)

One day, Haresh had not seen Rani all day, so visited her in her room. Rani, attempting to read Great Expectations, asked him to leave so she could concentrate. The next day, along with most people, Haresh had disappeared. (SJA: The Empty Planet)

Haresh was with Gita when Luke caused Mr White's hologram meteor to be seen by everyone on Earth which defeated Ruby White. (SJA: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)

In 2011, When a baby was delivered to Sarah Jane by the Shopkeeper, Gita assumed that Sarah Jane had began fostering, and she along with Haresh brought flowers for the child. Haresh would later enrol Sky in Park Vale. (SJA: Sky, The Curse of Clyde Langer) He was, like his daughter one of the many to be affected by Hetokumtek's curse but was returned to normal after the curse had been lifted. (SJA:The Curse of Clyde Langer)

Personality
Although Haresh was, when in his job as a headteacher, a very strict man, at home he was a loving, caring husband and dad to Gita and Rani. He often showed fatherly concern for his daughter, epecially when she began to befriend Clyde, whom Haresh at first disliked as he was a troublemaker in school. However, over time Haresh grew to tolerate, and even possibly like Clyde. Haresh often had to compensate for his wife's constant chatter and tendency to panic and/or go over the top (like when she tried to plant flowers in the Genetics building), and has been shown to be a good cook.

Haresh liked Luke Smith because he was a well-behaved, high achieving student. He was shown to be happy when Rani befriended Luke, and was the one who reccomended to Luke that he take his A-Levels a year early. As seen in the instance where students began disapearing, Haresh showed genuine concern for all of his students, and was delighted when he discovered that Clyde had a talent for drawing (possibly because it would be something for him to work hard at, discouraging him from "mucking about" in class).