Sunday, January 22, 2012

Parag Sadhale -- RIP

I read with great shock yesterday of the tragic demise of our colleague Prof. Parag Sadhale. I had spoken only once or twice with him, many years ago, when I think we served on the same committee for KVPY, which is so long ago that I have forgotten. I would see him once in a while in the mornings near Sanjay Nagar Police Station, where I guess the bus would come for his daughter to go to school. He always had the grace to say hello when I would run into him in the coffee line or elsewhere. I also understand that he was an accomplished harmonium player.

The manner of his passing is well known and there are no words to express the horror. Once again, it shows that men are not good at getting help at all. This should be a red flag to all those who are having negative thoughts that they must get help. It should also be a red flag to well wishers that they should not ignore signs when they see them, although in this case there do not seem to have been any. No one knows what private hell he was going through which brought him to this pass. I did find a report in Deccan Herald which said that he had spoken to his brother at length and that the latter agreed with his decision, which is totally bizarre. I hope that there was something wrong with that news item.

I would like to use this post to pay a silent tribute to his memory.

Update: There are some clarifications on the newspaper web-site from relatives.

2 comments:

Rahul Siddharthan said...

I have met Parag a few times. We had hoped to collaborate but it didn't happen; however, he was responsible for another fruitful collaboration I've had. He seemed a very nice and easygoing guy. A huge shock.

Anonymous said...

This is very old blog and I landed here searching about Prof Parag Sadhale. I want to bring attention to the deccan herald news article where Prof Parag's relatives have posted in the comment section that it is incorrect that he spoke to his brother and they agreed about the suicide part.