Ronnie

The smile on his obituary photograph (Jan 17, 2010) triggered the memories... Our friendship and days spent practicing for swimming competitions in Chennai are very vivid in my mind. Our association began with the announcement for the selection of swimmers in KV IIT, Chennai early in the academic year of 1994-95. A passionate swimmer, I quickly signed up for the selection. The trials were held at the 50M IIT swimming pool. I remember looking at its length and rolling my eyes, never having swum in an Olympic size pool before. Once inside, it simply didn't seem to end!! It was here that Ronnie and I met. We must have said hi and shaken hands... Possibly chatted up a little on the way back to school. Both of us were selected, the only two from the school!!

Our first competition was the Regionals at Trichur, Kerala. Our gentle, soft spoken Sanskrit professor had accompanied us. We were the stars of the event. The combined booty was in excess of 2 golds, 3-4 silvers and a few bronze medals. I distinctly remember the fish curry and parathas we had at a local restaurant for Rs. 5/-, a very reasonable sum even at that time. We returned to our schools - winners, the smile wouldn't wipe off our cheerful faces. The Zonals were announced and sure enough, Ronnie and I were booking our tickets for this. This was the first time we were receiving a sports kit and were all excited about the track suit, the printed tee-shirt with the KVS logo displayed proudly and the other little accoutrements. The Zonals were conducted at INS Chilka - a  neatly laid out Naval base in Orissa. I remember the water being 'light' and easy to swim across, the temperature being high and the density less (in complete contrast to the Nationals at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi where the water was icy cold and very dense, since the event was postponed due to the Surat plague and was conducted in mid-Nov). Ronnie struggled at this event but his cheerful nature never left his demeanour. He was very disappointed when he was not selected for Nationals but quickly took it in his stride diving into academics again and doing very well in studies.

Ronnie and I remained friends till Mar-Apr 95 swimming at the Madras Gymkhana Club together, attending the children's movie shows, playing TT and devouring rum-n-raisin ice-creams, competing on who got more raisins. After Dad was posted out of Chennai, we lost touch.

Years later, in 2008 I came to know of his untimely and tragic death in a fighter plane crash in the Air Force through a friend who was with us at Chennai. True to his nature, I learned he had excelled in the NDA as well! To see his image with that signature smile brought back the memories... How about a swim and an ice-cream this evening Ronnie?