Venkat.

RIMC classified us. Into sections. Chandragupta was the funniest, or so I thought in my first few days at school. Lone Ghoshal, only one first termer in that section! Hell ! I thought. That guy wud go crazy. Certainly. And then the rest started trickling in, each special in his own way. One of them was Venkat.

Funniest surname I had heard uptil then. Venkat kee ass pe rumal. Or so he was christened.
By Bhawani I guess.Black and round. With a funny smile on his face. Good at debates. Soon I saw him running the atheletics A div or something it was called. That ass and atheletics !!
This guy was made of sterner stuff ! And looks were deceptive.

Further down our time, when the infamous class 2 incident happened. I remember Venga as a morale boosting voice in times which were difficult for all of us, as a class.

Then he formed Pirates !

From there on, Venga was this cool, rebel kinda guy. Who did things passionately. He wasnt particularly tall, a little plump as well, but see him play basketball and you knew what venga was about. In the later years, I have a distinct memory of him walking around with Ghosh saying things like "yum yum".. and other silly rhyming jokes.

I remember walking around Chandragupta dorms and coming across Venkat's table. He had scribbled there : "Great men are not born great, but they become great because they toil hard when others sleep ".

The kitroom incident and then the relegations left a void in each of our hearts. With Venga going in another class and 5 A being hectic, I guess my contact with one of the best guys of
our class became infrequent. It was all downhill from there.

I am sorry for not keeping in touch. If only we could have talked more ..I thought we had all our lives to do that. "Whats the hurry". From how things have turned out..I guess, thats a misplaced notion.

Cheers to Venkat.