Rajan Bala, one of a rare kind

One of the finest cricketer writers that India has seen, Rajan Bala, passed away in Bangalore on Friday (October 9) after brief illness. He was truly an inspirational journalist for a generation of sports writers in the country in a career spanning about four decades.

I began my career as a sports journalist in Deccan Herald of which he was the Sports Editor. I worked under him later in Indian Express as well though at that time he was stationed in Chennai. He then moved to Mumbai and also had a stint with an eveninger. He returned to Bangalore in the last decade with the intention of retiring from active journalism and keep himself occupied by writing columns for newspapers. But he soon landed another job, this time as the Resident Editor of Bangalore edition of Asian Age and he made me write a column on horse racing. He later became a columnist for Bangalore Mirror and joined a TV company as a consultant editor and yet again, he made me participate in a panel discussion on horse racing.

I always admired Rajan Bala for being prolific as also for his ability to write on any subject at will. He was widely read. Though he wrote mostly on cricket, his knowledge of other sports was equally well matched. Towards the fag end of his career, he did write on a variety of subjects but it is as a cricket writer of outstanding merit that he will be remembered.

Sadly Rajan Bala died young. Sixty three years is not an age to die. Unfortunately, Rajan Bala was not so meticulous about matters relating to his health as he was about his writing. He took pride in his writing and took great care about what he wrote. He always took up issues which saw him ruffling many feathers but he didn’t care. He was provocative, aggressive and his writings always generated debate. His temperament and aggressive assertion also saw him change his job almost every five years. He always wanted to have his way. When dealing with people, he was falliable. He saw intrigue where there was none.

Rajan Bala held the attention of his readers and when he spoke, people simply listened without budging. Ironically, he always used to advise me ``to be a pin and not a sword’’. Perhaps this had a sobering influence on my writing compared to my early days.

I remember the time when a capacity crowd heard him talk about India’s tour of Australia at a huge auditorium in Bangalore. Those days, there was no television and people followed cricket through the eyes of the reporter and his reportage. Rajan Bala had the gift of effective communication which resulted in him being a hero for scores of cricketer followers. He was a pioneer in cricket reporting and he set the tone for today’s journalism as he went beyond the action on the field. The politics of sports administration, the intrigues, the ego hassles among players all made it to the columns of newspapers. He kept everyone on their toes. Rajan Bala enjoyed the company of cricketers especially the likes of Tiger Pataudi, M L Jaisimha, E A S Prasanna, and Amber Roy among others.

Rajan Bala as a Sports Editor always believed in encouraging youngsters and he guided them to achieve their goals. In the early days, the seniors in the field always dominated and it was difficult for youngsters to get prestigious assignments. Rajan changed it all. He always recognised merit.

Rajan Bala suffered a major setback two years back as both his kidneys failed and he was on dialysis. But this did not deter his spirit and he always said that he would fight his way. Ironically, even as he was in lying in coma at the hospital, his last two columns appeared in the newspaper for which he was a columnist as Rajan always kept the deadline and sent his columns well in time.

A few of us had asked Rajan Bala to give a collection of his articles for publication as a souvenir so that we could help him meet his growing medical expenses. This set him thinking. Though the souvenir never materialised, his last book titled ``Days Well Spent’’ which was to be his journey back in time, took shape. Fittingly, it was an apt title for his last book. He was excited about the launch of the book and the last conversation I had with him was a month back and it was about the function relating to the book launch. He was fond of me and had encouraging words from the time I covered the National Athletics Meet which was my first assignment soon after joining the profession at the fag end of December 1980. He taught us the values of commitment and dedication.

Rajan Bala is gone from us. The giant among Indian sports journalists has departed.

(Photo caption: Rajan Bala is seen sitting second from left. Seen in the picture are the Sports Staff of Deccan Herald in the year 1984. From top left: Sharan Kumar, Suresh Menon, Sam Varghese, Anand Philar. Sitting: Vinoo John (Photographer) and Vedam Jaishankar.