Written by Rekha Krishnan

Our brother Rajan was a hero in our family. He was six feet tall, handsome, had a way with people around him, especially women; he could make friends with anyone from a toddler to a senior citizen and was always up to some mischief. He was a rebel, he was generous, he was quick to temper, he was a charmer, and he was a nuisance at times.

Confidence was his middle name, like many boys, he always came out of an examination claiming to have “maxed” the paper, only to be disappointed when the results came out a few weeks later to realise that he had just managed to scrape through. He claimed he could jump a bar which was placed at 3 metres, could complete a 100 m race in less than 10 seconds (Usain Bolt was only three years old when we lost Rajan) and so much more. When he finished school, he applied only to IIT and BITS Pilani. St. Stephen’s College and Hindu College were his safe choices.

When none of these colleges thought that he was good enough to be admitted, his educational path had to be recalibrated. With much difficulty he got admission into Sri Venkateswara College (These were days before CUET and each college had a different form, which he hadn’t even filled up) only because of my mother’s persistence and ingenuous storytelling........

© Indian Express