Son of IIT Delhi Professor Committed Suicide

New Delhi: The 27-year old son of an IIT Delhi professor jumped from the 13^th floor of a posh condominium in Gurgaon on Wednesday morning.

Dr. Surendra Prasad was living with his wife (who is also a DU college faculty member) and his son in a second floor flat at Parsvanath Exotica situated on DLF Golf Course in Gurgaon. When he woke up at about 7 am, he found that the main door of his flat was locked from outside and a duplicate key lying near it. He then noticed that the room of his son Sumedha was also locked and he was nowhere to be seen.

In his son’s room, Prasad found Sumedh’s suicide note which read “I could not prove to be good son. Let me go”. While he was reading the note, he heard a loud thud and rushed outside. Sumedh had jumped to his death from the 13^th floor and was lying in a pool of blood. The condominium security guard informed police about the incident. The police have sent the body for the postmortem and the matter is under investigation.

Prof Surendra’s other son is working in the US.

While the exact reason of suicide of Sumedh is still not known, it comes as a shock that a well-grown adult in the family of achievers took such a drastic step. The suicide note indicates that Sumedh viewed himself as an ‘underachiever’, ‘a black sheep’ of the family. Perceived underachievement can cause much emotional discomfort and even physical problems in people.

Psychology studies indicate that even a highly productive person can perceive himself as an underachiever and feel frustrated when they are not able to perform up to the ‘ideal’ level set up by themselves, parents, or society in general.

Thinking rationally, proper planning and organization, and setting realistic and achievable goals are some of the important steps to conquer such feelings.