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Comment by m0llusk | Hacker News Reader

He had a great life. Is dying at 86 really unexpected or sad? It seems to me like an expected end. Exactly how long should he live for his passing to be normalized?

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Isn’t it normal and human to be sad about someone’s passing, even if it’s expected?

It is. But it is also perhaps interesting to note that most people seem to rate deaths differently depending on the age of the person. A young person cut down in their prime is a special kind of tragedy, so is the death of toddlers and young children. The passing of an old person, who by all accounts have outlived most other people on earth as far as we can tell, is saddening, especially to the people in the near family. But perhaps not shocking and traumatizing, as the other examples might be.

Just observing, not saying that this is how it should be.

I guess we are in agreement here. As far as I understand, the word shocking is used, in this context, at the unexpected happening of the event; not that the event happened. If I remember the sequence of events correctly, he was admitted to the hospital for a routine checkup and on Monday, his team had released a statement on his behalf that he was recuperating.

Another reason that a lot of Indians found this news shocking is because of the value and emotions attached to the name, "Tatas". Post India's independence, they were instrumental in helping India industrialized; the other were the Birlas.

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