[Written in April 2000 for the IITG 2000 Souvenir - Footprints]
A long brownish green leather bag hung over his shoulder, and reddish eyes that were hidden behind a pair of brown carbon framed glasses. Least did that pair of eyes then knew that their exposed days were numbered and the glasses must never have dreamt of being replaced by the so called cool and funky ones he wears now. Yeah! That was the Raghavendra I was introduced to by Dinakar (and he is Raghu for everyone).
There is a certain humility about this person, one who would accept his shortcomings. His is a frank and outright nature with no hypocrisy. Nonetheless, there was pride, pride that he was the best programmer in his school days and there was a dream too, dream that we would be a software engineer par excellence. We never dreamt of being here at IITG but the day finally came when his parents and mine were at the station to bless us for success to come. I hardly know of a person other than myself who could see him trying to hide his nostalgia while playing cards in the train. He was never away from his parents. Later on he would console his mom on the phone. He was growing.
I still celebrate his appreciation for my capabilities in mathematics, which he would advertise by telling everyone who would come into our room. He always felt that I would help him out with math problems, mine was a silent promise, an affirmative yes but a promise that never got tested. Bombay and Hindustani were the only two cassettes I had then, but soon the Humma Humma song was erased of the tape. Courtesy Raghu's incessant playing. Nobody could really question his capabilities of C programming during the first semester. Dr. Sudeshna Sarkar was impressed. Remember the mid-sem examination, the Deba-Ashok encounter and the 'Rights on Novell' ka kissa? AI was his major interest then.
Raghu's dressing style soon gave way to that of Heera, which I guess is no more so. Foot boarding, waving hands to the hostel girls sometimes annoyed me but at the same time I was amused and had masti with others. I remember once we planned to stitch his mosquito net to his bed when he was asleep so that he would be confused early next day, but Ritesh and I did that only with partial success. In the small store like place in 101, where he would keep his clothes, we once hanged a broomstick symbolizing his first major kela.
Alcheringa came and frustaapa surfaced everywhere. There there was this body builder in him (everyone knows why). Labs and studies were not the priority now. They were replaced by many more things that his dad would call superficial (so they were to an extent). The dreams had slowly vanished from his mind but his basic instincts still remained the same. He found a good companion in Siva, both of them would spend hours discussing "things" (No wonder people started calling them colonial cousins). Days passed by, so did weeks and months. Destiny as you might call it, once again both of us got a job in the same company, not to forget almost the same CPIs, same IIT, department and almost the same rank in JEE. It was a journey during which some promises were not fulfilled and some dreams went unrealized. Hope only the best happens hereafter to this man who is really a Heera.
