Landlord dies heartbroken

Thanjavur: The death of V Balasubramaniam, an erstwhile landlord, has left the people of Thalaignayar, a village in Nagapattinam district, in a state of shock.
Balasubramaniam died of heart attack on November 15 during the funeral of Murugaiyan, a farmer who had hanged himself. Though the farmer had ended his life due to crop failure, Balasubramaniam, who leased land to him, was deeply affected."Balasubramaniam collapsed seeing Murugaiyan's mentally challenged son. He was worried that a farmer who had taken his land on lease had committed suicide," said R Ayyappan, his cousin.
Balasubramaniam in his lifetime had been witness to the opulence and the fall of his family fortunes. When the ancestral bungalow became dilapidated, Balasubramaniam had to shift his family into an inn, which his forefathers had set up 100 years ago to provide relief to farmers in distress. As the rural economy improved, the inn lost its relevance. Finally, it housed its own owner when he was in distress.
It is ironic that his family had donated much of their land holdings for various public causes. Around 48 acres for the Umbalachery research centre at Korkai was donated to the government way back in the 1950s. Almost every government establishment from the Thalaingyar panchayat union office to the local school has been set up on land donated by Balasubramaniam, said Ayyappan. "A few years ago, the state offered `10 lakh for the land donated for the cattle research centre, but he refused it saying his conscience did not permit him to take money for the land his father had donated."