The Hindu : National : Kapil wows scribes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 26, 2006

National

National

Kapil wows scribes

Shonali Muthalaly

STAR VISITOR: Cricket legend Kapil Dev takes a look at the The Hindu newsroom in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: N. Sridharan

CHENNAI: When Kapil Dev was presented with a poster of himself getting ready to bowl for autograph, he laughed and exclaimed, "When I was young," before neatly writing `Best Wishes' and signing his name.

In Chennai to launch the redesigned Sportstar, the cricket legend brought all work to a standstill when he visited The Hindu office on Anna Salai. You could have heard a cricket ball drop in the normally noisy room when Kapil Dev strolled into the newspaper's editorial department. After a quick ceremony — a shawl was draped over him by the Chief News Editor at which he quipped: "In Delhi you need this, it's very cold" — the sub-editors switched on the closest computer to show him how the paper's page making software worked.

"We'll show him his pictures," someone said. "No," laughed Kapil. "You don't have to." But he seemed fascinated by the newspaper's vast collection all the same, as he looked through photographs of himself taken over the years.

After being introduced to reporters and sub-editors, many of whom were excited cricket buffs, by N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , Kapil Dev signed autographs and looked around the office.

The friendly cricketer also posed for photographs with his many fans before he was taken to the newspaper's Design Room to have a look at the work that went into creating the new-look Sportstar. "Large pictures," he said, inspecting the many pages plastered all over the walls. "Back to the good old days?"

"Yes," said Sports Editor Nirmal Shekar. "In 1979, we had huge pictures of you... "

The half-an-hour visit concluded with a quick look at the photography department, some more autograph signing and a visit to the sports department, where he met the sports writers and sub-editors.

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