IIT student: Nehru Would have been Readmitted

Fate being a cruel tease, it came to light Saturday that Vadithya Nehru, the IIT-Kanpur student who took his own life Thursday upon being rusticated by his institute, would have been reinstated if only he had asked to be. The dean of student affairs at IIT-Kanpur, A K Ghose, told Express on the telephone that Nehru had been one of 24 students who were struck from the rolls for failing to show a satisfactory performance in their first year.  All of them volunteered for counselling and sought readmission.  And they were readmitted with corrective recommendations.  All except Nehru. Ghose said, “We give a chance to terminated students to apply again to resume their courses.  All the terminated students came back with their parents and applied for readmission.  We gave them counselling and recommended yoga classes to them.  They are all back in class, except Nehru.  I don’t know what happened to him. His brother came to campus and took him away.” The shocking suicide of the 20-year-old student moved the people of his tanda in Nalgonda district to take a pledge never to take their own lives.  In death if not in life, the boy did finally fulfill his father’s wish that he be of service to Narlaga tanda. Hundreds of villagers, many from Nehru’s tanda and many dozens from hamlets all around, gathered in Narlaga for the funeral of the 20-year-old boy who so tragically carried the burden of their aspirations. They vowed to provide assistance to Nehru’s parents, Ramana and Panni.  “We thought we must take this pledge to send a message to youngsters in our tanda.  Several of them dream of pursuing higher education. We want them to know that it’s not alright to take one’s own life,’’ said V Venkat Ram, a tanda resident and headmaster of the local school. Numb with grief, the boy’s father Vadithya Ramana and Panni watched impassively as their neighbours took the pledge. Still only on the edge of coherence, Ramana -- fan of Jawaharlal Nehru, and dreamer of his son’s dreams - said he is determined to go to the IIT-Kanpur campus to know what that led his boy to think there was no hope.  Venkat Ram said they would like to know what kind of counseling IIT-Kanpur had for bright students who fell behind, such as Nehru.  “We want to know if he could have been saved,” he said.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Tanda to IIT: Nehru’s tragic burden

Like every father, Vadithya Ramana too had pinned high hopes on his son Vadithya Nehru. In fact, he named his son after the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and hoped to see his son doing good academically and reach great heights professionally -- something Ramana says he drew inspiration from the persona of Jawaharlal Nehru, whom he saw in his young days when the Country's first prime minister had visited their native district of Nalgonda to inaugurate one of the largest masonry dam -- Nagarjuna Sagar -- several decades ago. Despite the fact that Ramana kept struggling all through to make both ends meet, he somehow managed to save money for his son Nehru's education as he hoped to see him become a highly qualified engineer. ''I saved money for his studies and whenever he asked for more, I arranged it though Iam a agricultural labourer,'' recalls Ramana, sitting under the shade of at tree outside the Osmania General Hospital's mortuary. His son and his only hope, 20-year-old Vadhithya Nehru, a student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, committed suicide by consuming poison yesterday, which has completely shattered the family, particularly Ramana. ''As part of our tanda culture, we wanted to welcome him to drum beats and take a procession whenever he secured the best job for himself. All of us were looking forward to the day when he would become a highly qualified engineer,'' said Ramana, holding back tears as he awaited the body of his son at the hospital. The body was handed over to the family after a post-moterm after which it was taken to their native, Narlaga tanda, Vaddipatla village in peddadicharlapally mandal in Nalgonda district. Clad in disheveled white dhothi and shirt, Ramana, who was in a pensive mood wondered if the extreme step taken by his son was a right decision. ''Is this timid act of committing suicide the right decision to solve his problems? Before resorting to the extreme step, he even spoke to Panni (Nehru's mother) and told her that he would visit home and explain issues regarding his studies. Travelling with Nehru's body to my native is going to be tough for me,'' said Ramana. A number of villagers, friends and relatives also reached the mortuary to receive Nehru's body. Nehru secured all India 17 rank in IIT- Joint Entrance Examinations under ST category and he had B.Tech admission at Electronic Engineering (EE) stream in IIT Kanpur campus. It is learnt that Nehru secured below 4.5 grade out of 10 in the first year examinations and he was terminated from the college as detention system is implementing in the campus. ``Nehru came to the city in a depressed condition and was staying at his friends room in Kukatpally. He took Rs 100 from his friend and purchased a pesticide and went to Abdulpurmet. He informed his parents and friends over mobile phone stating that he will commit suicide. Some of his friends and me sent a SMS to his mobile but it was switched off. My SMS was delivered around 5.41 pm yesterday and I thought he was alive. Then, I made a call to his number that was answered by the Hayatnagar police who stated that Nehru committed suicide,'' said V Venkatram, head master at government school in Miryalaguda and close relative of Nehru. He said that Nehru was fifth person from their village in pursuing higher education in a reputed educational institution like IIT Kanpur.  Since childhood, Nehru was an active person and participated in various social events that took place in his village. Nehru used to discuss with us to do some service to the village after securing a good job. Whenever we had holidays, we spent at the native place. Soon after reached the city from Kanpur, he met me and told he would go  home. I heard the bad news that he committed suicide,'' recalled a 20-year-old B.Tech student Muni, childhood friend of Nehru.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com