My Interview with G Rajaraman, Esteemed Sports Journalist

I recently caught up with Mr. Rajaraman for a conversation about his life and sports writing.

One of India’s well-versed and well-revered sports communicators, G Rajaraman, has been in journalism across many a platform for 37 years. Based out of the national capital New Delhi, he has been plying his profession in print, TV, web, and radio. He worked with globally reputed Indian newspapers like The Hindu, The Pioneer, and Hindustan Times. TSC’s Ravi Mandapaka caught up recently with Mr. Rajaram for a conversation about his life and sport writing.

Ravi: Thank you for accepting our invitation for an interview! How did your career unfold?

Courtesy: Twitter

Rajaraman: Thank you very much for having me on this interview. My father, Mr. N. Ganesan, was a sports journalist in Hyderabad. He used to work for The Hindu and Sport & Pastime magazine. He was also a First-Class cricket umpire and Joint Secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. My brothers and I used to tag along with him, every time there was a big cricket game in the twin-cities or a volleyball match or a basketball match, or we could watch table tennis with him. So I got introduced to sport thanks to my father. To be honest, I wanted to be an engineer and opted for Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry in school. Unfortunately, I missed out on qualifying for the Osmania University Engineering College by a whisker.

That was in 1978. I told my father that since I had played the National Junior Basketball Championships to put in a word with the Director of Physical Education, Osmania University, to secure me the sports quota seat. My father suggested that I join a B.Sc. course and write the engineering entrance test the following year so that I could achieve the seat on my own. As a young man, I was upset that my father would not help me get that sports quota seat, which went to a cricketer who had played for Hyderabad in the South Zone. That day I knew I would be a sport journalist. So, I had a gala time for three years when I graduated in Commerce.

I then joined the BCJ course at Osmania University. I was always going to be focused on covering sport and to improve its coverage. I wanted to be the best sports-writer I could be. And that is how my career started. I was in some way through the Master of Communication and Journalism degree when I got a job in March 1983. As a BCJ student, I had interned with The Hindu in Madras (Chennai).

So, I had to move to Madras from Hyderabad and start my journey there. It has been beautiful. I’ve no regrets. I have worked on different media platforms, from daily newspapers to a wire service PTI, a weekly magazine, Outlook under Mr. Vinod Mehta, and a television channel when I headed the sports team. I have also headed various websites like cricketnext.com, espnstar.com, iplt20.com, and gocricket.com, thus picking up multimedia experience. I have been on the other side of the fence, in corporate communications for a good part of four years when I worked with the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi, heading the website and with the IPL team, Delhi Daredevils, for two years as the media manager.

It’s been a great journey over 37 years. I have had my share of ups and downs, have changed many jobs. A lot of people would not take the risks I took. But I’m pleased with how it has panned out. It could have been better, like everything else in life. But I’m happy with how it has been done.

Ravi: Who were the biggest inspirations for your career? What has been your personal key to success?

Rajaraman: As you would have already figured out, my father has been a big inspiration. And if I can ever tie his bootlaces, I would have done something in life. He loved sport passionately and was honest in his writing. His integrity has never been questioned. He’s been upright, and he’s called a spade a spade. I remember a time when wrestling matches were held at the Fateh Maidan in Hyderabad. My father called out Mr. Dara Singh and his friends, who had placed a microphone under the wrestling ring to amplify the thudding sound when a wrestler ‘jumped’ on another. Since the ring was on an elevated platform, spectators who sat at the ground level would not be able to see whether one wrestler was jumping on the other or not. The organisers threatened to drag him to court, but they backed off when they realized they were messing with the wrong man.

Courtesy: rajreflects.com

So, he’s been a big inspiration, my father. As I said, he set very high standards. He’s got great values. And I must admit that sometimes I might not have matched those. But I have tried to follow what he laid down. I have been fortunate that I was blessed with a set of superb colleagues at all my places of work. Along the way, I found a wonderful mentor in Mr. KP Mohan of The Hindu in New Delhi. If I can tie his bootlaces as well, I can consider I would have done something in life. His passion for research and home-work, especially with athletics and anti-doping matters, sets him apart. He has been an inspiration, a role model for many of us in the profession. He’s always had time for people who ask him questions. And he tried to explain things to a lot of us elaborately. If I can follow in his footsteps and share what I know of the world of sports, sports journalism and sports administration, I would have done my bit to ensure that the flame lit by my father and him in their ways will continue to burn.

Ravi: You were in Atlanta when Leander Paes brought home an Olympic bronze in 1996. Can you talk us through the emotions that day and how it impacts on Indian sport?

Rajaraman: I was in Atlanta when Leander Paes won that bronze medal. It’s a long time, but it’s almost like yesterday. It was a tough challenge for us in Atlanta because Stone Mountain Park was some distance away from the main venues. And you had to be interested in tennis to go and watch his matches every day. I would get back to my room at 3:00 in the morning after having finished work and then leave around 7:00 so that I could get to Stone Mountain Park to watch every round of his.

Leander won the bronze medal after a great contest in the play-off. It was wonderful watching him come back after losing the first set to Brazil’s Fernando Meligeni if I remember the name right. His resilience was there for all to see and the passion with which he played that day. He knew he was in with a chance of breaking a drought of medals for individual athletes. For that matter, India had not won a hockey medal since the gold in 1980. It was wonderful to be one of the few Indian journalists watching him play that day.

Courtesy: Twitter

That I filed my dispatch within minutes of the match to make it to the morning edition remains one of the highlights of my career. Given the time lag with Atlanta, most reporters were forced to write pieces that appeared the following day. I was fortunate that I worked for The Pioneer, and it was able to front page my report. It is something I will cherish because one of the biggest things for journalists is to be able to translate one’s own emotions that we experience by the ringside and express them in black and white with the reader. It gives me great joy to even remember the fact that I was one of the few journalists who was actually at the Stone Mountain Park when Leander won that bronze medal.

What impact has Leander’s bronze medal made on Indian sport? A fascinating question, Ravi. What it has done is infuse self-belief among India sportspersons. I think it was a turning point in Indian sporting history. A lot of us may not give him credit for that, but I believe that it was a defining moment in Indian sport. He inspired a whole generation of people. That self-belief helped not just weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, who became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic Games medal four years later in Sydney but also Rajyavardhan Rathore. Somewhere down the line, the shooter will tell you that Leander Paes’s medal made a difference to how he started playing his sport. I think what it also did was reminded a lot of us that there is a lot more to Indian sport than cricket and hockey.

Hockey, of course, we were masters for many years and cricket, the 1983 World Cup win, and the onset of color television and changed the landscape. Leander sowed the seeds for a revolution to happen. And Indians started to look at a lot of other sport. I think his contribution to Indian sport can never be overlooked.

Ravi: If I have to ask you to choose between 2007 Johannesburg and Perth 2008, what will you choose?

Rajaraman: This is a difficult choice. First and foremost, I went to ICC World T20, not believed that India had a chance. I don’t think anybody believed India had an opportunity because it had played only a couple of two or four T20 games and was considered minnows. We didn’t even know what T20 was until we got there. And for India to keep winning every single game, including that famous bowl out against Pakistan in Durban and to watch Yuvraj Singh hit those six sixes off Stuart Broad, I think it was marvelous the way India came together and believed in itself. There were a lot of young faces like Rohit Sharma and Gautam  Gambhir who came to the fore. Irfan Pathan was doing his bit. I think it was it was beautiful.

Courtesy: rajreflects.com

Yet, I would pick 2008, because it was a Test match and because it is Australia where no South-Asian team had won in Perth. And India was winning there the first time and the history with which we went into that game. There was a lot of acrimony in the previous Test in Sydney. India could have drawn the first Test of 2008. There was a lot of bad umpiring. There was also the scandal featuring Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. And then the match referee took things into his hand, and India challenged that decision. There was history, and to watch the team beat Australia in Perth was incredible. It was almost like it did not just those 11 players on the field and the others in the dressing room. All of us felt part of the famous victory. And to me Perth, 2008 will always be a standout memory.

I was privileged to be watching that game. Ishant Sharma’s bowling to Ricky Ponting is what everyone will remember. I think Irfan Pathan did a fair bit in that game. I also remember Anil Kumble bringing in Sehwag to pick up two crucial wickets when Australia was battling hard to stretch the game. Overall, it was a terrific effort by India to win in Perth, to have channelized all its energies and away from the negative, and then to win the Test.

I think it was the pinnacle of Anil Kumble’s leadership. I think it was beautiful to be able to watch that game. The 2011 World Cup win would have been close had I been in Mumbai watching the game in person. But I was in All India Radio in Delhi. And I remember that it took me six hours to get home because the roads were so full of people celebrating the win. I think these three moments and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi are highlights besides the Olympic Games in 1996.

I think there were two events in 2010 that I vividly recall. Indians swept the discus throw final, and the women’s 4x400m relay brought the house down. There were three flags when the National anthem was played, and it’s a rare sight for all of us. But I can still hear the entire Stadium roar when the 4x400m relay team won gold. It was quite an experience to watch 60,000 people sing the National Anthem. I haven’t seen anything like that before. And that was topped only in Melbourne in 2015 when 70,000 Indians and people of Indian origin sang the National Anthem. It gives me goosebumps to even talk about it. But since you gave me a choice between the 2007 ICC World T20 and Perth Test, I would go with Perth.

Ravi: Celebrities agree to an interview to promote their most recent work. How do you balance the work questions with personal questions?

Rajaraman: I have been fortunate, Ravi, that I don’t fall into this lot. I don’t do interviews of athletes who are sometimes gifted by public relations agents or agents because I’ve not been in mainstream media for a long time. So, I don’t think this question applies to me.

Ravi: How do you delve into those personal questions that they might not want to answer?

Rajaraman: I always remember that my job is to report on sporting events, on sporting developments and trends. So my focus, primarily, is on how they deal with situations inside the playing arena. I don’t bother them very much with questions about life outside of the field of play. I think they are happy that somebody will allow them the freedom to live the life they want to, but they’re answerable only for their actions on the field. When you respect that they are not answerable for their life off the field, I think players also tend to give you that respect back. When you don’t ask them personal questions, they don’t have to answer anything. Don’t ask them questions about their own lives, especially if it is not impacting their sport.

I also remember a time when moment Mohammed  Azharuddin told some of us on his own that he had completed the process of divorce with his wife. This happened during the ICC World Cup in India in 1996. It was quite a story for us to do, but it came from him rather than us asking him any questions. So when people tend to trust you, they will tell you what you can write about. There are times where we advise people not to mention certain things because it could hurt them. It might make for a great story for us. Some of us have learned from our seniors that people sometimes tell you things when they are emotionally vulnerable. It is a momentary thing, and the best thing to do would be to advise the athlete to calm down, think about it, and tell us later whether we should go ahead and write about it.

I think that helps us to gain mutual respect to share a mutual respect with athletes. And I think it will help everybody to stay away from the personal lives of sportspeople. Well, there is there are some beautiful sides to people away from the field of play. I remember reading about Mr. Sunil Gavaskar standing between a mob and a family to save their lives during the riots in Mumbai. I think it takes immense courage for somebody to do that. And so you would always want to know more about some things. So even though this is deeply personal, away from the field of play, you would still appreciate what someone has done like this. Where a sportsperson stands up for society and the poor, where values are held very high, anyone would want to write about that. And sometimes the athletes love being asked such questions about their values, about their principles and life away from the field of play. You don’t want to get into personal life unless, of course, it is an inspirational story that you’re writing about.

Ravi: What are some common myths about the journalism profession?

Rajaraman: I think there is only one. A lot of people think that you’re on a holiday because you’re traveling across the country and around the world and that you are a tourist. The popular belief is that since play has ended, you have all the time to go and visit places like a tourist. No. Your work starts when play has ended. Imagine a scenario where everybody is watching live action on television or broadband streaming, whether it is a hockey match or a football game or a cricket match or a tennis match. It is a delightful challenge to be able to write a copy that people will like to read the next morning. So your work starts after a live telecast has ended.

First of all, there is live television. Then there are experts analyzing a game on news channels. And then there are websites now. You then have to write a copy that people will like to read the next morning. I always talk about this as think of sugarcane juice. The juice sellers run the cane between two drums to draw the juice out at least three times before throwing what becomes a dry wreck into the bin. A newspaper writer has picked that up and find some juice.

I think that a fallacy that sport journalists have a whale of a time on tours. They are out on work. I remember going from airports to hotels to cricket grounds, back to photos, back to airports, and onto the next destination. Have we gone and visited a lot of the tourist sites? No. It gets challenging to find that kind of time as you want to interview players. So, when people think that sport journalism is a gravy train, it is not. Ut’s not easy, but it’s fun because you have chosen the profession to interpret and express an opinion. So it’s great fun being a sport journalist. The challenge is to convince people that you’re doing a professional job and not on holiday.

Ravi: Your book “Match Fixing: The Enemy Within” is one great book. Any insights you would want to give to our readers about your book?

Courtesy: Amazon.com

Rajaraman: You’re very kind, Ravi, when you call it a great book. It was put together as a quickie. But what I did was collate a lot of stuff that is not readily available in the public domain. I did write my own opinion about a few things. It was wonderful to be able to write that book in about three months because there was a readership. I think when you sit down to write a book, you have to answer a few questions that readers might have. And if you can answer questions that are likely to crop up in the mind of the reader, I think you’ve done a good job. And I would like to believe that I did an excellent job with the book, although it did not sell much. I don’t think there were enough copies available in the public domain. But no regrets.

Am I proud of match-fixing leading to a book like that? No, I’m not. I would like any sport to be clean. I hope that book was never written and that there was no opportunity to write a book like that. It is a memory. It’s gone. It’s nearly 19 years now since I did that book.

It taught me how to how to write a book, how to structure one. It taught me to break free of the newspaper mindset that I was in and start thinking from a book perspective. I will be grateful for that experience.

Ravi: Last, but surely not the least, we are thrilled with the success you have achieved so far. What plans are going to be put up in times ahead? What areas are you concentrating on in nurturing the young talent?

Rajaraman: If you believe that I’ve succeeded in whatever I have achieved so far, it is wonderful. As I said, I have no regrets. Let me take up the plans for the future. I have a website called circleofsport.com. I want it to become a single-stop for credible information on Indian sport. At the moment, it is still a nascent website. I want to get people to write there about the quality of sport in our country. There are many inspirational figures, and there are somethings that we can improve.

And our job is to celebrate the inspirational stuff that is happening around us and criticising the negative. So I think one of the challenges for me will be to make this a happening website. At the moment, it is not barren, but it doesn’t draw traction. I haven’t invested much time and energy in it, but circleofsport.com is what I want to invest in. Also, I have done a course in mind training in coaching people to realise their potential. So I want to help sportspeople, especially the younger ones who cannot afford the expensive psychologists. I would want to help them understand their potential and achieve that.

What areas am I concentrating on in nurturing the young talent? Like Mr. Mohan, I want to be available to every sport journalist, whoever I want to call me, and have conversations with me about a story that they’re writing about, a subject that they’re researching. I’m happy to help. Whatever I know will be at their disposal. And when I’m asked my opinion, I do tell them.

I think it is one beautiful way to give back to society what it has given me. And one way of doing that is writing. There are other ways to share it when people seek information that you have researched.

Thank you so much. It had been a pleasure speaking with you, Ravi.