Partab Ramchand recalls…

The scholarly sportswriter

There is this first meeting with Nirmal Shekar of which I still have vivid recollections. And then there is this last meeting with him which will also live in memory for long.

We first met at the old indoor stadium near the Nehru Stadium in 1980, shortly after he had joined The Hindu as a sports reporter. I was with the Indian Express and it was a local table tennis tournament. One of the players, R Ramachan-dran, came up to me and asked whether I had met the new reporter from The Hindu. I said I hadn’t. Ramachandran excitedly said, “He is very tall, and has a lot of hair on his head and so he stands out in a crowd”. Minutes later I was introduced to him and thus started a friendship that was to last 36 years.

By the mid-1980s Nirmal had succeeded T Govindarajan, popularly known as ‘TG’, as football and tennis writer for the newspaper. This was no easy task, for ‘TG’ was one of the finest sportswriters of his time. A guru to many youngsters, including me, TG, who was on the verge of retirement, was at first unsure whether this scholarly “young upstart” was up to the task, a view shared by many in the profession. But Nirmal worked his way up through the age-old qualities of hard work, natural talent and being a knowledgeable writer. His considerable and eclectic reading made his writing different.

By the time TG retired in the late 1980s, Nirmal had firmly established himself as one of the leading young sportswriters with his ability to write on almost every sport, though tennis was always his first love. Recognising his talent, even a conservative newspaper like The Hindu gave him the big breaks early and, in 1986 Nirmal covered his first Wim-ble-don, the Mecca of Tennis. He was to do this for more than 25 years in a row.

In 2003 Nirmal became the Sports Editor of The Hindu and questions were raised as to his ability to be in charge of a high profile department, fulfill his manifold administrative duties and still churn out good copy. He did manage the dual role but at heart he was first and foremost a writer. His new duties meant that his columns became fe-wer, though readers still look-ed forward to his reports from Wim-bledon. Of course, he regu-larly covered the Davis Cup matches and could give full rein to his colourful and know-ledgeable writing, for India was then in the prestigious World Group and Nirmal described in glowing terms the performances of Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Kri-sh–nan and Leander Paes, notably in the 1987 semi-final agai-nst Australia in Sydney, the -final the same year against Sweden in Goteborg, and the sensational upset registered by India against France in Frejus in 1993.

Nirmal had his detractors who described his language as “too flowery and pedantic” showing off with words and quoting from writers, few of his readers knew. There were also times when he seemed to have hit a plateau and some of his phrases were repetitive. But there is no denying the fact that he touched a chord with his readers and was widely followed in the country. He was exceptionally well read. Quite often he would be seen seriously reading material about philosophy, literature or economics. Now and then he would quote from these books to drive home a sporting point when it came to writing of the greatness of Ali and Pele, Federer and Bradman. His approach to writing was spelt out in an interview some years ago when he said “I don’t restrict myself to sports but try and bring in a life’s perspective; try understanding the psychology of sports and fit sports into the wider context rather than stick to the backhands and the cover drives alone.’’

Nirmal retired from The Hindu in September 2015 but retained his ties with the newspaper as a columnist besides being part of the visiting faculty at the Asian College of Journalism. I had in the meanwhile retired from the profession, but we remained in touch through phone and the occasional get-together at the Madras Cricket Club.

And now to the last meeting, though at the time how could I know that it would be the last? It was at the K S Narayanan Oration at the Taj Coromandel. We were meeting after a long time. Naturally the talk was mostly about the Federer–Nadal duel at the Australian Open the previous day. At 60 he had lost none of his enthusiasm for the sport which was his favourite. Forty-eight hours later he was no more and that is the main reason why that last meeting will live in memory for as long as I live.

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