Heres the Tribute to Pradeep Vijaykar on the occasion of his 4th Anniversary: PRADEEP VIJAYKAR – A MAN OF MANY PARTS His name may have inspired reverence in the world of Indian sports journalism, but a little known fact about Pradeep is that he possessed enormous talent in other spheres of life as well. It would, therefore, be safe to coin a phrase, ‘Pradeep Vijaykar – thy name is versatility’. He wore several hats with equal felicity. His pre-occupation with sports journalism may have prevented him from devoting quality time to nurture and give expression to his varied talents on a regular basis. However, his multi tasking skills invariably came to the fore, each time he was called upon to discharge various responsibilities all in a day’s work. He was able to showcase and demonstrate his vast talent while straddling various responsibilities with aplomb. In many ways, he was Gulliver traversing the city of Mumbai covering various sports events and rushing back to his desk in the sports section of the Times of India to file the reports. In spite of his busy schedule, Pradeep always gave you the impression that he had mastered the art of time management, which we all struggle to incorporate and implement in our lives. Allied to his vocation of being a sports journalist, Pradeep was an outstanding commentator. His rich baritone coupled with his knowledge of sport and command over the language made him a joy to listen. He had the ability of being analytical and scholarly without being self indulgent and sermonizing. He held the interest of the listener with his racy description of the proceedings without indulging in frivolity and hackneyed assessments. I always felt that he should do commentary more often. He ensured that the commentary was engaging and interesting. He was blessed with an innate talent to dispel boredom with beautiful anecdotes. He excelled in his self driven mission of unearthing talent and doubled up as a talent scout for several sports while in the process of performing his journalistic duties. He possessed a keen eye for spotting budding talent and used his vocation of being a sports journalist to good effect by providing the much deserved visibility to these young talents in the print media. Often times, a feature on a rare talent by Pradeep would catapult that sports person into the big league. His features and reports were riveting, as he endeavoured to weave a story which also evoked the human interest factor amongst the readers. His heart beat for local sports and he forever strived to give it the fillip it yearned for. His passion for promoting various sports was unbridled. He was expanding his horizons all the time and in the process acquitting himself as a multi tasker par excellence. He was able to make a smooth transition to the IT dot com era. He was an avid blogger, whose popular blog ‘Sportvicarious’ was widely read by genuine lovers of sport. Pradeep used this blog to unravel a treasure trove of sporting nostalgia to the readers. His easy style of writing supplemented with the fine art of story telling breathed life into his copies and made them a reader’s delight. Pradeep also had a long and fruitful association with the Press Club and the Sports Journalist Association having served both as a key functionary. He used his administrative skills for the betterment of his brethren and used this platform to promote and protect their interests. It gave him immense satisfaction when I disclosed to him that my brother late Sandeep (renowned swimming coach) treasured the accolade bestowed upon him as the Coach Of the Year by the SJFI, as it was a recognition earned from the fraternity which had their eyes and ears wide open and did not require any petitioning and influencing of the jury. He used the vast knowledge and experience at his command as a faculty member of some premier institutions, while imparting training to young minds pursuing a career in journalism and news media management. He nurtured and mentored budding media professionals and showered upon them valuable pearls of wisdom acquired from his long and distinguished career. Pradeep also has the distinction of scripting a play/drama on cricket. It would be in the fitness of things, if some theatre group undertakes the responsibility to produce and enact the play. Our Alma Mater St Stanislaus’ High School in Bandra did not encourage cricket while we studied and passed out from this wonderful educational institution. The priority sports were clearly Athletics, Football and Hockey. Cricket was confined to inter class and at best inter house tournaments on a matting wicket. However, this did not prevent Pradeep from honing his skills at the Khar Gymkhana, which always boasted of a vibrant cricket culture. He attained a fair degree of competence and proficiency to command a place in the St Xavier’s College Cricket Team, which attracted the cream of Mumbai’s budding cricket talent then. Ashok Mankad, Milind Rege, Kailash Gattani, Sunil Gavaskar and Ramesh Nagdev are just a few of the stalwarts, who graced the St Xavier’s College Cricket Team when Pradeep made his way into the all conquering squad. He continued to play club and office cricket for a long time and was in many ways the torch bearer of the West Zone team for the J.K. Bose Trophy, the symbol of supremacy amongst sports journalists across India. Pradeep experienced agony and ecstasy that sports provides in equal measure and this to my mind helped him a great deal in empathizing with sports persons when he featured them in his innumerable despatches. He treasured his sports scrap book which he had initiated while he was in school. I had the privilege of seeing this scrap book during my visit to his residence, on learning that he was unwell. There was a sparkle and a gleam in his eyes, as he took me through the pages of his antique (immensely valuable) scrap book which gave one an insight into the passion which drove the man to pursue sports journalism as his chosen vocation. He was consumed by a degree of enthusiasm matching that of a school boy showing off his favourite toy, as he took a trip down memory lane. He also showed my friend Aniruddh Nansi and his wife Falguni (who had accompanied me on this visit) and myself, a huge and priceless collection of his photographs with Sporting Legends. We quickly went through the pictures which brought back vivid memories of momentous sporting events and promised Pradeep that we would be back to enjoy viewing the vast collection at leisure. We observed that the entire task of explaining the context of each photograph was tiring Pradeep and he needed rest which was paramount at that stage. His flesh may have been weak at the time, but his spirit was indomitable. Alas, it was not to be. We were unable to visit his residence again and fulfill our promise, as fate had other plans for dear Pradeep. His services were requisitioned by the Almighty, as there was a cricket match in paradise in the first week of January 2011 and they were a player short. Furthermore, there was no one to commentate and cover the game for ‘Paradise Times’. The Lord’s search ended, the moment he was informed about this versatile denizen from planet earth who possessed abundant talent for all the three tasks. The Lord immediately inducted this true blue all rounder providing him an opportunity to showcase his talents in heaven. PRADEEP DIVGIKAR
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 14:01:00 +0000
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