N. Ram to resign as The Hindu editor-in-chief

After a long and bitter battle with his brothers and cousins, Narasimhan Ram, the editor-in-chief of The Hindu, has finally called it a day.

In a letter to the directors of Kasturi & Sons Limited (KSL), the holding company of the paper at 12.19 pm today, N. Ram, 66, has indicated that the time has finally come to go.

And that 19 January 2012 will be his final day as the helmsman.

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Confidential

January 9, 2012

For the Board of Directors, Kasturi & Sons Ltd

In keeping with the relevant resolutions adopted by the board of directors and the shareholders of KSL on editorial succession, I have decided to step down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar with effect from January 19, 2012.

In consequence, the Board may pass the necessary resolutions declaring, with effect from January 19, 2012, Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor, The Hindu, as the Editor of The Hindu (inclusive of the annual publications, The Hindu Survey Of Indian Industry; The Hindu Survey Of Indian Agriculture; and The Hindu Survey Of the Environment) responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; D. Sampathkumar, Editor, Business Line as the Editor of Business Line responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; R. Vijayasankar, Editor of Frontline, as the Editor of Frontline responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; and Nirmal Shekar, Editor of Sportstar, as the Editor of Sportstar responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act.

I have also decided to step down, with effect from January 19, 2012, as publisher of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar, and printer of our publications where applicable. In consequence, the board may pass the necessary resolutions declaring K. Balaji, managing director, KSL, as publisher of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar, and also as printer of our publications where applicable, with effect from January 19, 2011 until we have in place a CEO who can take over as publisher of the above-mentioned publications and as printer as applicable….

I will continue as wholetime director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd.

I thank the board for giving me the opportunity to serve as editor-in-chief of our publications for eight years and also as publisher and printer as applicable.

N. Ram

Photograph: courtesy Mint

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Also read: Why N. Ravi quit The Hindu after 20 years as editor

Nirmala Lakshman: I didn’t step down; I resigned

Malini Parthasarathy quits as Hindu‘s executive editor

The four great wars of N. Ram on The Hindu soil

N. Murali: The Hindu is run like a banana republic

When a tennis reporter bumps into a tennis icon

Nirmal Shekar in The Hindu:

“Twenty-five summers ago, on a glorious sunny morning, an egregiously overdressed sports reporter from India walked in circles for almost an hour around Wimbledon Park in south west London before locating the correct point of entry for mediapersons—Gate No. 5—at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

“After security clearance and a good two minutes spent staring at the statue of the last Englishman to have won the men’s title 50 years earlier—Fred Perry—the reporter, heart pounding, feeling a sense of reverence and awe he’d never before experienced in his short career up until then, walked up the steps leading to the Centre Court like an ardent pilgrim on the verge of realising a cherished dream.

“Slowly making his way down those same steps was, to the reporter’s utter disbelief, the great Perry himself, with a broad smile on his handsome, if creased, face.

“As the reporter introduced himself with uncharacteristic shyness, Perry, after patiently answering a few questions, resumed his journey down the steps. Then, quickly turning around, he asked: “Is it your first Wimbledon visit?”

“‘Yes,’ muttered The Hindu’s newly-designated Tennis Correspondent, fidgeting with the notepad on which he had just scribbled down Perry’s comments.

“‘Enjoy yourself. You will never forget the experience,’ said Perry.”

Read the full article: Why Wimbledon stands alone

Photograph: courtesy M. Hangst/All England law tennis and croquet club

Also read: What’s in a name when it’s all about a soundbyte

Mixed metaphor bhath

External reading: What’s it like for a reporter covering Wimbledon?

What’s in a name when it’s all about a soundbyte

The veteran sports writer Nirmal Shekar in The Hindu:

A well known sportsman told me four or five years ago that a young television reporter chased him for half an hour after a practice session for an ‘interview.’ Finally, she got lucky and the sportsman obliged.

“OK, shoot,” he said.

“No sir, just give me a quote,” said the reporter, sticking the microphone perilously close to his lips.

The clever young man said something trite and insignificant but did manage to put a smile on the reporter’s face.

The parting shot from the reporter: “Sir, can I please have your name?”

Read the full article: Bathing in the banal

Also read: The arrival of a TV anchor foretold

Paprazzi picture of Bollywood babe sans makeup

Mixed metaphor bhath

Shane Warne‘s announcement of his retirement from the game has seen cricket writers employ every adjective known to man and beast to describe the beauty of his bowling. And Nirmal Shekar in The Hindu takes the cake and the bakery by talking of Mozart, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Yeti in the same breath as the Sheikh of Tweak. Read the full piece.

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Shane Warne has “a brain in which the neurons fired away as in a hungry cheetah’s on a dinner run behind a springbuck.”

“There may be quite a few instances of such awe-inspiring tango featuring the human hand and an inanimate object in life itself Van Gogh and the paint-brush, Pandit Ravi Shankar and the strings of a sitar …”

“Warne virtually redefined the game at a time when world class leg-spinners were about as easy to find in cricket as the Yeti in the Himalayas”

“A raging cyclone of energy”

“To judge the Aussie genius on the basis of such numbers would be as big a folly as attempting to determine Mozart‘s place in the history of western classical music on the basis of the number of symphonies he wrote.”