Missing

I met Amar in my office. He was a young man, couple of years younger to me, new joiner who had just graduated from college and joined the organization as his first company. He was not with my team but his desk was next to mine, hence we would speak often.

Amar was from a small town. He used to live here alone and his family was back in his hometown. Amar often mentioned to me that he wanted to get a job back in his hometown so ge could stay with his family.

One morning, Amar asked me, "I want to transfer the whole amount from my account to a joint account I have with my mom. What should I do?" I was a little finance literate, so I asked him to approach his bank. I should have sensed this behavior to be suspicious, but I did not.

Then came Friday. This day Amar told me that the weekend was going to be amazing because he had planned something. He also told me that if everything goes as per his plan, all his worries could end. I assumed he was going for an interview at a reputed organization that he had been talking about for days. I did not nudge him, but wished him luck.

The weekend got over. We were back in the office on Monday. Amar had not come to the office. I assumed that the interview went well, he got the job, and decided to take a day off before resigning. I did not pay much attention.

Amar did not come to work on Tuesday as well. Now I got a little worried, so were his team members. One of his friends asked me if I knew anything. I told them what he had told me on Friday.

That evening his manager, Dinesh approached me and asked to meet in the conference room. He too asked me if I had any idea about where Amar could be. I told Dinesh exactly what he had told me, excluding my interpretation. Dinesh looked extremely worried. After probing he finally told me, "please do not tell anyone. We had not been able to contact him. His phone is not reachable. We went where he used to live, we found that he had vacated his flat on Friday. He has not contacted his family since Friday. There is no trace of him anywhere. We suspect he is missing. Or worse".

I had a lump in my throat after hearing that. I felt the room was spinning. I was unable to believe that my friend could have taken such an extreme step. Dinesh asked, "do you think he could have done that?"

"Who is to say what one can or cannot do?" I could not say anything beyond it. My eyes were filled with tears.

A formal police complaint was filed. Search operation began. In a few days, we received the conclusion of the search which was what we feared. Amar was found dead. The death was confirmed to be a suicide. A note was found from his pocket stating the reason which was never revealed to me.

The police also mentioned that the activities in the week before suicide were indicating that he would do something extreme. Transferring money to joint account, selling his belongings, cancelling the lease, all pointed out in the same direction. Somehow we all felt guilty that we could not understand these clear signs.

This incident occurred over 10 years ago but I still vividly remember it. I wish Amar would have sought help instead of ending his life.