By P. Jayaram

Ever since he retired from the Maharashtra state government three years ago, Mr Niranjan Ghatke has been worried about how to marry off his three daughters and keep the fire burning at home.

The former middle-level government official thought of putting his retirement benefits of 450,000 rupees (S$13,365) in a bank and living on the 8.5 per cent interest he would get on the fixed deposit.

But one of his friends advised him to put his money in the share market to earn better returns.

Mr Ghatke, a cautious man by nature, then put half his savings in stocks and was surprised that it doubled in value in less than two years.

That was when he made the big mistake. He ploughed the rest of his money into shares.

India's benchmark Sensex has shed nearly two-thirds of its value since the year began.

As the market crashed, Mr Ghatke, who was a regular visitor to Dalal Street where the Bombay Stock Exchange is located, was shocked to see the small fortune he had made vanishing into thin air.

'I have lost everything. I'm left with nothing but my home...I would have been better off if I had kept the money in the bank. My entire family is depressed,' he said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 02, 2008.