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other platform number two. Somehow the railway employees always got to know when PVG Raju was on a train, and made sure that the train would arrive on platform number one and his coach would be closest to the exit gate. This was to help him get out without much inconvenience. His disability after the 1964 accident was known to all.During these years, PVG Raju still remained connected. He continued to be surrounded by books and conversed with family and friends on various subjects. His love for sport never left him and he would follow cricket matches. In keeping with protocol, whenever an important constitutional dignitary would visit Simhachalam temple for a darshan, he would receive them at the steps of the temple. President of India Giani Zail Singh visited Simhachalam in 1985. He was scheduled to meet PVG Raju for fifteen minutes, but they got talking of old times and the clock ticked on. Sensing this, PVG Raju begged off and said that it was wonderful to catch up with him and now he should take a darshan of the Lord. Later Shankar Dayal Sharma also visited the temple as the President of India and shared a few moments with PVG Raju, who received him at the temple entrance. This was in February 1995 and was one of his last public engagements. PVG Raju never got drawn back into politics. He would closely follow national and international affairs through the news. Political life, however, was another matter. Politicians from all views and parties who dropped in at Vizag, often came to call on him. When his son Ashok became a minister for the second time in 1994, a year before he passed away, there was a huge procession of cars at the airport to pick him up and take him to Vizianagaram in a triumphant procession. Ashok came to the Simhachalam temple to pray and call on his father. On 166