Point of no return

8/10/08
Sounds of several shots and the end to 6 lives. The bankcruptcy of the Lehman brothers and the after effects of the financial crisis were storming the whole world,and were a piece of news for people  like me, with no investments. The picture of American financers moving out of their offices with handful of possessions in cardboard boxes could not arouse much sympathy in my heart. Just a passing thought that a fall from the pinnacle can occur anytime and with anybody. Millionares can become paupers in a second .
This piece of news was not like any of the above. At first it seemed like a shocking after effect of the American financial crisis. The troubled times made a man kill his family and then himself. As I kept reading the details of the news a few things came in my mind. Mr. Rajaram was a Non-Resident Indian with a great academic career behind and a good amount of financial success to boast of. A family with bright kids. But yes a life in a foreign land. His employer who fired him in 2005 called him erratic and unreliable which contradicts the opinion of his college batchmate who described him as happy –go-lucky person. Both of them might be correct.The time between the college and America might have changed him. I can’t comment on the causes or the accuracy of my interpretation. However, what bothers me is the thought though these were tough times but the curve of his academics and career shows that he was not only intelligent but also tough. IIT education and making a life in America isn’t possible for a loser or a half hearted person. What is sad is that the situation proved tougher than him. I somehow relate it to the poor farmers committing suicide in Andhra..The similarity being the desperation and despair.
A few questions which raced through my mind is , in situations like these where do NRI’s get support from ?How difficult it is for people to stoop down and start all over again? Is the amount of loss more emotional than real? I ponder whether the loss was such that it would have killed him and his family had he not taken this step?Was it more the fear of loss of a decent financial and social status and a life of poverty?
May be his situation was tougher than I can ever imagine . In that case hats off to those who live beyond financial, emotional and physical tragedies.