Tragic end of a promising journalist

My heart missed a beat when I heard the news of Bandi Ravinder’s demise on May 1st. Six days before his death, I met him at his residence and enquired about his health. He was convalescing after an operation for removal of tumour in his brain. I was with him for 15 minutes. He introduced his wife and his son to me. I would have stayed with him for some more time but he looked very uncomfortable while talking to me. He told me that he had developed chest pain and went to a private hospital for a checkup. He was told by the doctors that the chest pain was due to gastric trouble or acidity. But I felt something was wrong because he was not at all looking confident and was not sure about his recovery after the operation. It was shocking to know that Bandi Ravinder had a brain tumour at such a young age. I met him several times during the last 3 years. He was hale and healthy. He looked always very enthusiastic about his work. Working in the field of journalism is very challenging and adventurous and also dangerous. The competition in this field is quite challenging as a plethora of news channels and newspapers are vying for their share. It is difficult for a journalist to survive and achieving a distinction is even more difficult. Bandi Ravinder at an early age joined this challenging field and very soon made a mark of his own in it.

I met him when he was with TV9 and found him very dynamic. His commitment to his profession endeared him to me. His way of interviewing a celebrity was very interesting. After he joined HMTV and The Hans India, my interaction with him had become very frequent. When HMTV celebrated its third anniversary, he invited me to participate in it. The then District Collector, Rahul Bojja, was the chief guest on the occasion. Bandi Ravinder presided over the meeting and his enthusiastic way of conducting the proceedings of the meeting appealed to all of us. When The Hans India celebrated its first anniversary, again Ravinder invited me to speak. I enjoyed every minute of that programme and the way he conducted it. I remember very well that on the occasion of shooting of the programme ‘Vandella Kathaku Vandanam’ for HMTV (A Tribute to hundred years of Telugu Short Story) which took place at my residence, Ravinder had arranged everything for the shoot before the arrival of Gollapudi Maruthi Rao. He had taken lot of care so that the programme goes well without any hitch. When three of my books were released on 24.12.2011(it happened to be my 70th birth day) Ravinder had arranged the shooting of the whole programme on behalf of HMTV. He brought his entire team to record the telecast of this programme in which K Ramachandra Murthy, CEO of HMTV and The Hans India, Chukka Ramaiah, noted educationist and C Raghavachary, former editor of Vishalandhra have attended.

Whenever any important event connected to literature took place in Warangal, Ravinder used to contact me and wanted me to tell him all the details connected to it. When he brought out a book edited by him titled ‘Kakatiyula Varasula Rahasyam’, he came to me to discuss about conducting a meeting to release the book. Actually this book was written by Takkella Balaraju and it was gathering dust for many years without seeing the light of the day as Balaraju was not in a position to get it published. I was told that Balaraju has approached many publishers but nobody had come forward to publish this interesting book about the hereditary lineage of Kakatiya kings who ruled Telugunadu for more than two hundred years. When Ravinder came to know that this particular book which was languishing for many years in the bookshelf of Balaraju, he took a bold decision to publish it in a befitting manner. Ravinder published this book with a portrait of Kakatiya queen Rani Rudrama Devi on the title page and arranged a meeting to get the book released in the conference hall of the district collector. I had never seen such a glittering book releasing function. All the top officials of district administration like District Collector, Joint Collector, two Superintendents of Police (Rural and Urban), Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, a trainee Collector, District Revenue Officer and many others attended the meeting. Ravinder requested me to review the book and I did it with pleasure. It was a memorable meeting as everyone appreciated the zeal and dynamism of Bandi Ravinder who took pains to publish the book. I had written about this particular function in my column in ‘The Hans India’, Ravinder was immensely pleased when he read it.

Hailing from a poor Dalit community, Ravinder with his sheer hard work and determination could get an MA degree in Journalism and could also get his Ph D. His journey in the field of journalism started in 1995 when he worked as a correspondent of Vishalandhra. Afterwards he joined Andhra Jyothi in 2002-03 and than he entered electronic media (TV9). Later he joined HMTV as its Regional Coordinator and when the same organisation started the English daily ‘The Hans India’, he was assigned the post of its Branch Manager. He also acted as the Vice President of Press Club of Warangal in 2002. He had actively participated in the movement for the creation of separate Telangana state. It is very sad that he passed away immediately after his dream was fulfilled. It is a tragedy that a promising career of a young journalist wasd snatched away. May his soul rest in peace! I convey my deep felt condolence to his family members.