Can it really get worse than this?

Heartbroken on finding his class XII certificates destroyed in the devastation caused by the deadly monsoon in Kerala, a 19-year-old boy, committed suicide, police said today.


With his house fully waterlogged in the downpour, the boy, Kailash, and his parents, hailing from Karanthur in Kozhikode district, had moved to a relief camp three days ago. Kailash had got admission for a course in the Industrial Training Institute and had purchased new clothes and set apart some money for higher studies, they said.


As the rains abated for a while, he returned home yesterday to take a look at the house and was shocked to find his plus two certificates soaked in water and in tatters.


A police officer with the Kunnamanagalam station said the boy's death came to light later in the day yesterday when his parents came to clean up the house as the water receded. They were shocked to see him hanging, police said. His shattered father, a labourer, had pinned all his hopes on his son as all their belongings had been mostly destroyed in the rains. -- PTI