RIP Nitin Luthra

It was with deep sorrow that I learnt this morning that Nitin Luthra, passed away in the early hours. Nitin, 32, had just taken on position as Director & News Editor at the Indian defence magazine India Strategic, a journal edited and published by his father Gulshan Luthra. Nitin previously spent almost three years as a staff reporter covering aviation and defence for Dow Jones Newswires, and six years before that as an equities correspondent with Reuters. He leaves behind his wife Surabhi and their four-year-old son. RIP.

20 thoughts on “RIP Nitin Luthra”

  1. My condolences to Nitin's family. May God bless his soul & gives his family the strength to sail through this difficult period.

  2. Not to be morbid, but as someone on the outside who wants to know more: how did he die? Is there some foulplay suspected?

    RIP. Terrible for a kid to grow without a father.

  3. Nitin was a stellar journalist with high integrity. He was also a very good friend. My thoughts and prayers go out to Nitin's family and friends during this terrible time. We will all miss him greatly.

  4. Indeed a sad news.
    What happened to him? succumbs to accident or disease?

    Poor family! I do not have words for his bereaved family. India lost a Young Fighter indeed.

    Ram

  5. I am very sad and surprised to learn the loss of Nitin Luthra. It is all the more sad as he just came to begin working side by side with his father on their common projects. I was lucky to met both of them last June during a very pleasant flyboat trip in Paris. I am very saddened for his father and all his family. My deepest sympathy. All my thoughts are with them. India Strategic and the think tank must go on!

  6. Nithin Luthra died of a sudden heart attack! Just 32 years old succumbs to heart attack! (Shiv, my comments are nothing related to defense of India, but for the defense of human body. You may delete it if you find it is not useful).

    The young generation in India is having a rampant lifestyle resulting in accumulation of bad things like cholesterol in the body. I also found that cancer and diabetes are on the rise among the young people. There is no one to blame except the individuals themselves.

    Recently I had been to a cousin of mine. He is young, good job, have Maruti Alto and single. He lives in Delhi suburban area, goes out with his friends to eat outside every 2-3 days. Just like some of his counterparts, uses microwave oven to cook his stuffs, including heating oily stuffs, milk, etc.

    Dear friends, Some basic funda. In microwave oven, the low energy wave is used. Molecules absorb the energy that allows the atoms to vibrate or rotate so fast that, that produce heat. So when we heat a thing (like food or water) in a microwave oven, while heating the atoms should not break away from the molecule. If an atom breaks off, that molecule decomposes. So basically, the bonding between the atoms in a molecule should be strong, but it should be allowed to vibrate. The best such bonds are O-H, N-H bonds- that means polarized molecules. The C-H bonds (almost no polarization) that you find in oil are so weak compared to small hydrocarbons can easily change shape by re-orienting itself upon heating, from natural form (cis form) to stable form (trans form). (O stands for Oxygen, N for Nitrogen and H for Hydrogen).

    Here are some tips.

    Please do not use microwave oven to cook oily food. Heating or cooking microwave oven especially oil containing food create a lot of free radicals which can induce cancers. Moreover, heating oil too much or reusing the used oil (previously for other purposes) will give more harm than good. Oil on heating above 200 C, change to trans form (called trans fat) which is more stable than the good cis form. Trans fat can easily deposit on blood vessels. That's why many countries are banning trans fat products. In California, no restaurant can serve food containing trans fat. For example, Microwave ovens convert vitamin B12 from the active to inactive form, making approximately 30-40% of the B12 contained in foods unusable by mammals.

    Oils like coconut, peanut, ghee can easily turned to trans form if you heat it above 150C. In restaurants and dhabhas, you cannot expect the owner to provide new oils for every cooking. So avoid eating outside too much. It is high time the GoI should introduce some regulations on trans fat products.

    So if you want to live longer, please reduce use of microwave oven, reduce using oil, especially used oil. Use microwave to heat water (not for heating milk), use ceramic vessels in microwave, use plastics having number 5 and above in microwave. (what is this number?)

    You take a plastic product and you see a triangular sign with a number in the middle at the bottom of it. That number will be from 1 to 7 is known as "recycling symbol" or "Resin Identification Code".

    If you notice the cola and mineral water bottles, they have #1 at the bottom and there will be a expiry date too. DO NOT use those bottles beyond the expiry date. Do you remember the melamine poison in dairy products originated from China? Many lower end plastics (#1-4) contain this material. So over exposure of lower end plastic can result in the contamination of products like melamine.

    Higher plastics (#5-7) are good as food container. They are mostly of poly -propylene, -styrene, -acrylic, -carbonate, etc.

    If you do not have ceramic vessels (but not the one having metallic coating or lining using silver, gold or platinum) for heating in microwave, use these high-end plastics in microwave.

    Thank you for your patience. Why I am writing this because I lost a cousin brother, who was just 30 years, while working in Dubai to heart attack. I can understand the pain of Mr. Luthra's family.

  7. On Nitin's cremation I realised that with most of the people I was crying were introduced to me by Nitin only.

    He was a cute buddy with permanent smile and a ready to offer any help in his eyes.

    May his soul rest in peace.

  8. neelaxi Saikia Arora

    Nitin , he played in my lap as an infant..as a professional always had time for me when ever I wanted an event reported in the media (Reuters). The warmth of his greetings over the phone I will miss. May his soul rest in peace.

    Rashmi,Neha and Gulshan, being out of the country , I deeply regret not being able to hold your hands in your hour of grief. No words can heal the wounds HE inflicts on us HIS ways are strange yet we have faith in HIM and believe HE KNOWS BEST .

  9. Nitin was a chubby little boy when we met him on his return from Dubai,he grew into a fine young man .a good son ,brother,husband and father..now this …no words can console the family….no prayers can heal their loss..so where do they go from here…how do we comfort them and make him believe in a future…their future just left them suddenly ….

  10. Hey Shiv,

    Am in complete shock.

    Read about it in the TOI today.

    Nitin and I had been joking about how we both live in Vasant Vihar and must catch up some day. Also met Mr Gulshan Luthra on so many occasions.

    This is terrible news. My condolences to the family, will walk across sometime today.

    Hope you are well.

    Shivraj

  11. I had covered many assignments as a fellow reporter along with Nitin. He was extremely hard-working and a nice person. I pray for his wife and son … May God give them the courage to face the world.

  12. I met Nitin in the year 2005 when I moved to Delhi. I was a PR professional and he, a journalist.

    Over the past few years we always met on professional platorms, but he turned out to be one of the finest human beings I have come across.

    We planned to meet and discuss some professional venture in August, 2009 after he was back from the Paris Air Show.

    The meeting never happened. I subsequently moved out of Delhi and I was unaware of his passing away until two days ago.

    His passing away at such a young age is tragic — for all of us, especially to his family.

    My heart goes out to his parents as I have seen my own parents lose their only son. And to his wife and son too.

    Nitin, may your soul RIP. There never will be another finer human being like you.

    In grief,

    Shubhada Dharwadkar

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