I don't know how many of you read this news about a software engineer, Sanal Nathan, from India who was shot dead by a mugger about a week ago. I read it and felt sad, especially since the guy was only 26 years old. It was lingering in my mind that he probably might have just started earning enough to live a worry-free (atleast money wise) life. Also, can you imagine the trauma that his fiancee would have undergone seeing her future life partner getting shot at?
So, two days ago, I was sitting at home doing some office work when I got this call from my ex-boss. She used to be my manager at the client company that;s been my office for the past two years. We shared a good rapport at work and we were good friends outside of work too. She didn't sound very good when she called me and I could easily make out that she was in a very sad state of mind. When I asked what was wrong with her and why she sounded so dull, she told me that one of her employees, who was from India, had been killed last week by someone who tried to mug him. That's when it struck me that she moved toArlington, Texas and I remembered that news article I read last week. I was like, OH MY GOD, was that guy one of your employees? His fiancee had called her from the hospital since they didn't have any close friends or relatives in Texas. She was surprised that I knew about this incident. I told her about reading it last week to which she said that she didn't know that they had published it anywhere. I also remembered that she had called me sometime last month to tell me that she had hired a new programmer and he was very good at what he does. He wasn't getting paid much by his previous employer, so she made sure that he gets paid a lot more than that since she thought he deserved it.
Right now, she is the one helping with all the legal procedures that need to be taken care of to transport the body to India. She has been emailing one of the U.S Navy personnel who is in Kerala, about the situation here and he updates the guy's parents. Apparently, it's not an easy process and there are one too many hassles in getting it done. One good thing is, the company is taking care of all the expenses. His mother hadn't eaten for a week and keeps saying, "Please send my son back to me". After hearing all this, I felt like I lost someone close to me. It also made me rethink my decision about staying in this country so far away from HOME.
