In Hermann Hesse's seminal work, the eponymous Siddhartha, a man of 'high caste' birth, leaves behind riches and heads out with a band of hermits into the forest. After failing to get what he wants from the sanyasis, Siddhartha goes out in search of Gotama the Buddha who, according to his closest friend Govinda, was someone who has managed to achieve nirvana or enlightenment. Later in the story, after feeling disillusioned with Buddhism, Siddhartha crosses a river into the city and a world of materialism, decadence, pleasures of the flesh and riches. Finally, he discovers enlightenment from Vasudeva, the ferryman who transported him into the city, who asks him to listen to the undulating rhythm, the timelessness and the polarity of the river, which helps him discover ultimate wisdom.
V.G. Siddhartha, born to a Vokkaliga family near Mudigere in Karnataka's Malnadu, built the Cafe Coffee Day empire out of the coffee estates his family inherited. He took a path which only a few in his family did. He chose to be a businessman. Siddhartha's extended family members have excelled as great writers, thinkers and artists. Great Kannada writer Kuvempu, his son and writer Poornachandra Tejaswi, and award winning wildlife film maker Senani Hegde were all from his family. He visited Mumbai, learnt the basics of trade and business, and cultivated a chain of 1,750 cafes in more than 200 cities, including in Prague and Vienna, made coffee connoisseurs of many an urban India, teaching them that an espresso was really a shot of coffee, and helping add latte, Americano, cappuccino and frappe to their everyday lexicon. A lot can happen over coffee, read the tagline. On Monday evening, he went missing. According to reports, Siddhartha got out of his car near the Netravati river bridge in Dakshina Kannada, about 375 kilometers from Bengaluru. He was seen talking on his smartphone when he got out of his car at around 6.30 in the evening. When he did not return after a long time, the driver went in search of him but could not find him anywhere. He then informed the family and notified the police. Later, a letter, purportedly written by him, surfaced. In the letter, Siddhartha said that he tried to put up a fight for long, "but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago borrowing a large sum of money from a friend."
In the letter, addressed to the CCD management and employees, Siddhartha expressed unhappiness over not creating "the right profitable business". "...I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts... Every financial transaction is my responsibility... The law should hold me and only me accountable."
"My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission, I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me," the letter further stated. A day later, his body was found at the end of the Netravati, which originates from his backyard.
How do we deal with the death? Siddhartha, who witnesses, the death of his lover and courtesan Kamala, finds peace in the silence and quiet dignity of the eternal river. In India, peace came in the form of cacophony and tone-deaf imagery. The first was in the form of a cell phone footage, where journalists could be seen standing over the body of the businessman, reporting the series of events. The police stood idly by. Almost all national news channels—Hindi and English—ran with images of Siddhartha's remains, according to media critique reports. One television channel ran with pixelated images of the man's face, while other purportedly covered the body—displayed from all angles—with a wholly inadequate filter. Some even attempted to reconstruct certain features of the man.
While there are no laws that explicitly prevent such behaviour, it has been a matter for huge ethical concern. In the aftermath of actor Sridevi's death in 2018, the channels were awash with sensational headlines, claims of scoops and exclusives where none existed, and even elaborate remakings of the final moments of her life in a bathtub. In the aftermath of the encephalitis crisis in Bihar, one Hindi television channel was criticised for heckling doctors inside a hospital's ICU. It is time for someone to bell the cat.
