In Memory of Raju

At Devu’s request, I am telling the story of my winning the Father Steinkist Medal for Political Philosophy at Loyola College. This was an annual medal and certificate that was given to the highest scorer in the university level exam on the subject. I was actually a student economics, not politics or philosophy, but both the subjects were of great interest to me, so I had studied them thoroughly. I remember that I was very nervous for the exam, so much so, that I was shivering and having the jitters on the day of the test and wanted to quit. At that time, my cousin Chinna Rama encouraged me – he accompanied me to the exam, stayed outside the exam hall for the whole time, and returned me all the way to Tambaram before leaving. I got good marks, but I had no idea I had got the highest rank. I was surprised when I got a letter from the college saying that I had won the medal, and it would be awarded at Bertram Hall, which by coincidence was being inaugurated the same day by the very famous (later Bharat Ratna) Shri C. Subramaniam. In those days, I would only wear a dhoti, and my slipper broke on the way to the hall – so I arrived with dhoti and bare feet to receive the award. C. Subramaniam saw my appearance and broke into a laugh – he said that I looked like a philosopher and clearly deserved the award on that basis.