Ramu

"Writing", said Dr Ramu " should never be mechanical . There should be a flavour to it so that your readers can almost anticipate your thoughts like a a well cooked dish , whose aroma is the first inkling that people have that something good is cooking. " We were sitting in Dr Ramu's office just across our classroom. Dr Ramu is the Public Relations Officer of Administrative Staff College. How did we start interacting with a total stranger whom we did not know till our course began in June? On 08 June when our course began in ASCI , at the opening ceremony we found a person flitting in the background clicking photographs . For us that day he was just another person on the staff of ASCI. Little did we know that he was the first person we would encounter each morning (If he was in the office) as we climbed 37 steps to our class room on the first floor. Normally we would see him slumped in a chair in front of his desk top working away to meet some deadline that we were not aware of...
The first few days passed with neither of us acknowledging each other's presence. As the days passed by we got into a nodding acquaintance . All this  time  we knew that he was the PRO and that his name was DR Ramu . What we did not know was that he was an accomplished journalist with a lot of experience and that he had won a prestigious award in April this year. A PhD in Communication and Journalism from Osmania University, Dr Ramu was presented CV Narasimha Reddi  award in recognition of his "outstanding performance in the practice of public relations and for having exhibited professional qualities that served in promoting the vision, mission, goals and services of ASCI," He is also an avid tennis player and probably the only person in ASCI who makes full use of the excellent Tennis courts at ASCI. 
Our acquaintance soon blossomed into a friendship. Some may say " Big deal - his office was right across your classroom and it is only a matter of time before you befriended him"; I can assure you that while this is only partly true, the friendship developed because of his cool temperament and pleasant disposition. All the participants , at some time or the other used to walk into his office and converse with him . We started missing him if he was away on some job during the day. When I started writing my blog I would walk up to him and ask him for a few pointers. Sometimes I had to arm twist him to read my blog and he would encourage me with his compliments.  His interaction with us grew when Gj Rao went to him for help in publicizing his suicide prevention model. He helped GJ get numerous interviews with TV Channels and reputed newspapers. He spared no effort in this respect, So much so that if one did not find GJ in the class , it was only natural to find him in Dr Ramu's office. 
When we were preparing for publishing our placement Brochure he was instrumental in helping us procure a professional photographer. Did he ever lose his equanimity? Of course yes! when he had to shave off his goatee he was very upset. " I have invested a lot of time in my goatee " he said . " I have  nurtured it like my son, Every morning I had to be careful to see that I was fully awake while shaving so that I did not shave off a part of my goatee. It is indeed a loss that I will have to learn to cope with". We did our best to cheer him up saying that he looked much younger without the goatee. Soon this cheered him up. In all sincerity I must say that he looks more dapper without his goatee and definitely it was better done away with.... We hope to continue our fruitful relationship with Dr Ramu in the remaining period that we are with ASCI. I leave you with a photo of his, beseeching God for good times for one and all in times to come....