BAPATLA: Early on Wednesday morning, the phone began to ring in a village called Khajipalem in Guntur district. The household was not really expecting a call. Retired engineer D S Raju answered. The old man could not quite comprehend the torrent of words pouring down the line.
It was his son-in-law, Satyam promoter Byrraju Ramalinga Raju. All that the the 70-plus scientist who had worked in Germany for 25 years could say in response to the news was, ‘‘It’s all fate.’’
‘‘Ramalinga just said there was nothing to worry about and he would take care of himself. What can I offer to him at this juncture?’’ D S Raju said, fighting back tears. His daughter Nandini came on the line briefly after her husband passed her the phone. Since the children had called from a mobile, the father didn’t know where the call was made from.
Nor did the extended family had any inkling of what was brewing in the company, said Raju, since Ramalinga was not one to share information with his relatives or even his own wife. When he called the family, he kept his conversations brief and rang off after enquiring about their well being.
Nandini and Ramalinga were married in 1977. The groom was a US-returned boy with a foreign MBA degree but the marriage was a simple affair.
