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A Double Death, An Orphan And Some Unanswered Questions

A P Kamath

V Mahesh has been asking over and over again why he did not suspect anything at all when his cousin came to his house, asking him to look after his 11-month old daughter for half an hour.

"He never did such a thing; he would never drop in unexpectedly," says Mahesh. But he believed his cousin Prabhakar who said he was taking his wife to the hospital.

About 24 hours later on June 28, Mahesh and the police found Prabhakar Gandluru and his wife Madhavi dead in their apartment in a quiet corner of Burlington town. They were found hanging.

Before that Mahesh had called his cousin's home many times; he had called the hospitals, friends and relatives -- and, finally, the police.

A software engineer, Gandluru was 31, and his wife 28. Family friends and relatives have no clue about any dark secrets in the family. They had been married for little more than two years. Gandluru made about $65,000 a year, an impressive figure by any account.

Though autopsy reports are not ready, police believe the two committed suicide.

"We do not know have the full facts here but depression does lead to suicide. We know that," said Dr Rajam Ramamurthy, a San Antonio physician, who has been urging Indian community organizations and fellow physicians, to lead a concerted effort to help Indians here to seek counseling for emotional illness.

"Immigrant lives carry a lot of extra emotional burden, and many of us -- particularly younger people -- find it difficult to cope with the numerous demands of living in a new society."

"We won't seek help because many of us have brought to America the stigma that we attach to mental problems in India," she continued.

About a year ago, an Indian doctor -- unable overcome the depression of not finding a rewarding job and having pretended to the contrary -- killed his wife and daughter, and was shot dead near Las Vegas, following a nationwide manhunt, when he aimed his gun at a patrolman.

About three years ago, a college student in New York killed himself. His father, Kanu Chauhan, one of the most successful of Indian businessmen in New York city, still wonders what demons drove his son to take his own life.

About five years ago, a high school graduate bound for an Ivy League college, was killed when she hurled herself against an oncoming train.

"For every suicide story we read in our community there are at least 10 suicide attempts we do not hear or read about," says Jaishree Winters, a psychiatrist involved in many community projects. "Depression and other emotional problems are unspeakable issues in many families, and in some families, they are undiagnosed issues. People come know them often when things have gone too far."

With Dr Ramamurthy and many other Indian community leaders, Dr Winters agrees that depression and other psychological problems in the community ought to be discussed more openly. Though several Indian medical groups have offered help from time to time to guide people with emotional problems, Winters feels there should be sustained efforts.

Ramamurthy says the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin has plans to seek federal funding to conduct a study about depression and other psychological problems in the Indian community.

"We should have started studying these problems a long time ago," she says. "Perhaps we could have raised funds from our communities." Meanwhile, in Burlington, 11-month-old Nisha is an orphan, and her relatives and friends are still in the dark about anything other than depression that could have caused the tragedy.

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