For Raj

It’s really only hitting me now just how long I go back with Raji and while I don’t think anyone would say that the two of us were super tight friends, we really were good friends, and got to that point even independent of the fact that he is the youngest brother of my best friend from college, Hari. When Hari and Aimee were living in England, we had the pleasure of sometimes hanging out with Raji independently . Same with Ravi and Julie.

So it’s really difficult to pin down one story because it’s all a little blurry at moment. But these two related ones do jump off the page. One of the first times I ever went to see the New York Jets play live, I went with all three brothers. I think it was some game where both Jets  and at the time inept New England Patriots, we’re both 0-3 & playing each other. Might have been another game. Maybe it was even a baseball game but I don’t think so. The key point though is that all three of the Krishnaswami boys seem to have some incredible, genetic talent for clapping their hands with such a tremendous force that I literally got an earache. The Thunderclap Trio. Raji in particular seem to almost have an otherworldly superhero talent for it. I thought the whole stadium and crash to the ground from the force of the sonic waves . And what I most remember in addition to the Jets somehow figuring out how to win the game was that Raji and I just had a lot of fun making fun of each other with that, and it was one of the first times I think I’d ever hung out at length with him, and he was just hysterical and I also realized how eclectic his interests were ranging from film to music to sports to literature.

Flash forward a few years, when my older daughter, Daphne (who will be 20 this year) was really little. I think she was just over a year old and it was 2004.  Raj and Hari came over to my apartment to watch the game (in true Jets fashion, they did their best to see his defeat from the jaws of victory, but managed to squeak it out. I think they had to redo some field-goal three or four times.). Because Daphne was so little, I had to beg Raji to please not unleash the thunderclap power. In fact, we literally all had to keep very, very quiet so that she didn’t wake up. So we silently screamed over to each other, and do very light high-fives. It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had watching a game. We then went out to a local bar in the neighborhood, and it was just positively cathartic on all levels and was just nothing but a great evening with good friends of varying ages all bonding not merely over a big win, but the whole spirit of camaraderie, and realizing that while our lives were changing with work, kids, actually owning real estate, we still knew how to just have a great time and adapt to unusual circumstances. To this day, I still remember it as one of the most fun times I’ve ever had watching a football game or any sports game.  And it was probably one of the things that made me always look forward to seeing Raji even when it was just the two of us and even if it didn’t involve sports

To say he will be missed is just the biggest understatement I can think of. But I will always have nothing but the warmest feelings for the good times we spent, and I know his whole extended family is extremely strong and truly has their act together, and will ultimately come to peace and be able to think of him with big smiles and even laughter.

Submitted by Josh Glatter.