The Ornate Glass Palace. Poem by Ravi Panamanna

The owner of the Cafe Coffee Day - CCD - which has a vast network of over 1500 kiosks throughout the world and 1200 wending machines Mr. V G Sidhartha committed suicide on 30th July 2019 by jumping from the road bridge to the Nethravathi river near the Mangalore Railway Station.

His rise to the stardom was phenomenal.By 1992,4000 acres of Coffee Plantation was under his belt.His company used to export 20000 tons of coffee beans every year worth 150 to 200 crore of rupees.His network provided employment to 18000 people directly and indirectly.He was the son-in-law of the former Karnataka CM S M Krishna.

Such and entrepreneur finally landed in financial troubles.His financial debt towards the end rose to around an estimated figure of 3328.8 crore.As a means of survival from this Maria Trench, he sold his shares worth 3269 crore invested in the Mind Tree IT Company but he could not get that money due to the intervention of the Income Tax Department.It is reported that he owed 300 crore as tax liabilities.Over and above that, there was a case of illegal possession of wealth worth around 480.13 crore, pending against him.

Negotiations were in progress with the Coco-cola Company regarding the take over of his CCD Company.

In the meanwhile, he escaped from his agonies and worries by jumping from a bridge to the gushing waters far below.For the recovery of his body, it took enough man power and man hours, extending over a day.The body was finally recovered some 4 km away from the original site.

Who finally lost the game?His wealth did not save his life.His wayward ways of handing the finance really gave him sleepless nights.We have to learn a lot from this episode.

The following poem focuses on this issue as an eye-opener to the world which is crazy in amassing wealth.Let us be prudent.Otherwise, so many cases of such self-annihilation can be in the offing like the death of those fire-flies.