In Memory of Raju

I had 3 friends whom I can consider close and intimate during my youth and teen years. I think some may know them or have heard of them. First was LCN Srinivasan, second Thambi Srinivasan, and third Ram Ganesh. All of them have since passed away – they all died somewhat early, in their 60s and 70s. LCN Srinivasan was the first to go, I wanted to tell you a bit about him. He was the brother-in-law of a neighbor, and lived in a village called Lalapet which was a wayside station some 100KM from Madras. He would often visit and stay with our neighbor, and he was very accepting of me, and very friendly – and we became fast buddies. Later, he was a school teacher in Lalapet village, and passed away there itself of a cause I did not come to know. Once, when we must have been perhaps 12-13 years old, LCN and I came up with a great business idea. We would buy peppermint candy from a nearby store, and then sell it to other kids around the neighborhood for a hefty profit. It was, of course, a foolish idea. Why would someone pay more to us for peppermint that they can just walk to the same retail store and buy for themselves at a cheaper price? But this basic problem with the scheme never occurred to us at all. We both pooled all our money (Rs. 10 each, I seem to recall) and bought a lot of the candy in bulk. Then, we went around the roads nearby, trying to sell it at a higher price. Some kids fell for it, and we made some money back. But, as you might expect, the business was an utter failure. Some left-over candy we ate, and some got spoilt in the heat, and we had to throw it away. But, it was a valuable lesson to both of us to stay away from doing any business ventures – that profession was clearly not for us.