Farewell to the legendary Poochi Venkat

6th September, 2009.

Legendary photographer "Poochi Venkat" was leaving to Nagpur for two years. I was personally depressed on hearing this news in August. Whenever I am on travel, or reading something or at work I use to update Poochi through SMS just like how I use to update other friends through SMS. Sometimes I really miss friends. 2009 has been a great year. But it has also been a year where all my best friends went far away from me. My college mate Sudhakar went to England, my school mate Praveen went to United States and "thambi" John went to Australia. And now Poochi is going to Nagpur. So whose next? I have heard of Poochi during 2003-2004 but I know Poochi since 2006 when I first met him at Golden Towers. I know him better only since July-2008. Roughly one year! Only one year. I felt as if I had known him for years.

My friend Vimal knew Poochi quite well and so he arranged for a farewell with the help of Gowri Sankar and Sridhar Joshi who were close friends of Poochi. Lunch at Matysa Restaurant near Chennai Egmore. That was the plan.

I boarded 23C and as usual I was sending SMS to all friends mentioning about my whereabouts something which I always do since May-2008. I got down at Egmore. Someone touched my shoulders-I looked back and found it was Nishant! He has travelled in the same bus, but I haven't realized! He was also one of the invitees. We went to Egmore and spent sometime there. We infact went to the Egmore Shed and had a look at the locomotives. Then we proceeded to Matysa Restaurant by walk. We found our ' Senior Associate Thala' Sriram Karthik waiting with Krishna Kumar Kannan(close friend of Poochi). Poochi arrived with Ashwin in a bike. I was wondering what to order. I am a big fan of Chat items. But unfortunately, there were none at that time. Vimal suggested Masala Dosai for me and I was quite content with it.

Poochi then personally requested my friends to take "special care" of me. He felt that I am 23 and I really needed the guidance of elders.

September 7th, 2009. I reached Chennai Central at around 1900hrs, though I started early. I met Vimal at platform 11. Vimal and myself walked upto the locomotive of Grand Trunk which was schedule to depart at 1915hrs from Platform 11. We spent sometime over there till GT Express departed. I wish one day I would visit my National capital!!!

We were soon joined by Suresh Babu-a railway employee who works with EMU's(local trains). I had Rs.300+ in my pocket! That could mean only onething. We are off to Ratna Cafe in Central to have tiffin. My favourite Chilli Parotta was available. But it wasn't that spicy. It had kurma too! Wonder why? Raita is enough, isn't it? Kurma wasn't tasty. No A/C. I was a bit dejected. No forks! Only plastic spoons. But anyway, something is better than nothing. I enjoyed my Chilli Parotta.

We walked down to Platform 1-starter. "Senior Associate Thala" Sriram Karthik was waiting along with "Quizer" MVL Manikantan. We were waiting till 2015hrs till Mangalore Mail departed.Then we walked all the way to Premium Car Parking lot to find Poochi Venkat who has arrived with his mother and aunt. Senior Loco Pilot Kasi Lingam, Goods Loco-Pilot Vel Murugan were there along with Poochi's friend from The Hindu. Kasi sir was taking Kovai Express the next day so he left early to take rest. We stood there talking for sometime. Poochi told Vimal and Subbu Raman that I am in a 'state of confusion' and I should be really taken care of! And there was a talk about why I board 29C often. MVL Mani believed that I used 29C to see my Girl Friend in Stella Mary's. I wonder how MVL can make such horrible imaginations?

Then we all walked into Central. TN Express was to depart from Platform 10. As we neared we saw the rake being shunted inside by a Tondairpet WDM-7. Poochi was to travel in Coach HA1. First Class A/C. We helped him out with his luggages. This was the first time I was actually entering into a First Class compartment. Trivia question! We came out of the coach and waited for sometime outside. After sometime, Aravind came directly from office. Ramki left at that time as he need to go to college the next day and was having his exams it seems.

Sridhar came last. Sridhar couldn't believe that Aravind was actually at MAS. And ofcourse you can guess what happenned next. Sridhar Joshi took this is a chance to pull Aravind's leg. It was really awesome to watch Sridhar Joshi and Aravind interacting.

The power was WAP-4#22218. And when the signal was given, I switched my camera to video mode and recorded the events as 2621 departed. We all left Chennai Central almost immediately. Vimal agreed to drop me at Saidapet in his bike. Near SIET we spotted a 23 C. We chased the bus and overtook it. We waited at Saidapet till 23 C came. I boarded it and got down at Krishna Sweets. I walked and reached my home. I reached home and called up Poochi and inquired how much distance has the train covered. He said that it was nearing Gummidipondi. So roughly 45kms from Chennai Central. I went to my computer and logged in to access some learning materials and then went to bed soon mentally prepared for the next day.

-Krishna Kumar.S