Rajan Bala, the veteran cricket writer, died in Bangalore after suffering a cardiac arrest. Bala, 63, covered cricket for more than four decades, working in several of India's leading newspapers.
Mourning for Rajan is like mourning for red tiles, or trunk calls, or The Illustrated Weekly in its heyday. He was almost an institution, and represented a belief in objectivity that our culture seems to have abandoned long ago ... On the whole, Rajan’s was a life well-lived. Even in the last few months, when he was not fully well, he would discard do-gooder advice to nurture a Bacardi or a vermouth cassis before lunch. It was as much for old time’s sake as for daring fate. As James McMurtry sang, “I don’t want another drink. I only want that last one again.” Rajan would have agreed.
In Mid-day, Clayton Murzello remembers the days well spent with Bala.
Often, he would break into song and Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell was a favourite. He has gone to his very own Island in the Sun ... His wisecracks could distract the most focussed of journalists. His laugh was a hiss you couldn't help taking notice of. He indulged in leg-pulling too. In 1994 at Nagpur, he fooled a perennially nervous writer by organising for a fake fax to be sent to him signed by his editor, who insisted on a Brian Lara interview by the end of the day. Not that Rajan didn't have jokes played on him. On the 1982-83 tour of Pakistan, Sandeep Patil "stole" his typewriter and kept it in his care for a few days.
In the Times of India, Satish Viswanathan remembers how cricketers used to turn to Bala for advice on the game. He recounts a story that involves Sachin Tendulkar.
he is not a man who would have liked his death to be mourned. Life was one big celebration for him, more so the life around cricket. He wasn't just a cricket journalist, not a mere cricket writer either. Rather he was one many a cricketer turned to for advice on technique ... Such was his popularity that in the 80s, the paper he was working for then — he’s worked for many a publication, regional and national and been the sports editor in most — used to put up hoardings proclaiming that Rajan Bala was on tour and could be read only in their paper.
On my first day at work, fresh out of university, I asked hesitantly, "Is it all right to smoke in here?" and was welcomed with the memorable words: "So long as you don't f**k on my table, you can do what you want." Rajan was friend, guide, philosopher and mentor to a bunch of talented youngsters who went on to make a name for themselves.
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