Saturday, Dec 28, 2002
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News Analysis
By K. Sivaramakrishnan
Kalambakkam Rangaswamy passed away on December 22 last at the residence of his daughter, Kamala, in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, a few months short of his 95th birthday. K. Rangaswamy (Ranga as he was known to friends) had a distinguished life spanning much of the 20th century. After his education in Madras, he started his career as a journalist with The Madras Mail. In the early 1940s, he was covering Mahatma Gandhi's activities for the newspaper when Gandhiji called upon Ranga to become his English-language secretary. Ranga travelled in those last hectic years before Partition to the strife-torn Noakhali and other places where Gandhiji worked tirelessly to maintain communal harmony. After Independence, Ranga declined a possible career in politics to return to his first calling as a journalist. He worked for The Hindu, the leading national daily published from Madras and rose to be a highly respected political journalist. His column on the political changes taking place in the new Indian democratic polity was avidly read by the readers of The Hindu, and it provided them with key information and an astute analysis of important events in the 1950s and 1960s. Along with Frank Moraes, Ranga came to be one of the most respected journalists of his time, providing fair and fearless coverage of Indian politics and international relations. His insight and even-handed reporting earned him the respect and confidence of Jawaharlal Nehru and other important leaders. In 1969, after retiring from The Hindu, Ranga established his own feature service, called Foreign News and Features, providing valuable news analysis widely utilised by all leading newspapers. For the decade that he operated this service, Ranga remained a star in the firmament of Indian journalism. Even after he retired from all journalism, all through the 1980s, he was a familiar figure in the Central Hall of Parliament and in the Press Club of India where politicians, government officers, and reporters were always eager to hear his views on the latest events of political import. Advancing years and failing health finally persuaded Ranga to give up his active public life and he spent the 1990s in quiet pursuits at home, in New Delhi, and in the U.S. He loved golf and played regularly at the Delhi Golf Club till the age of 85. Rangaswamy leaves his wife, Sakuntala, three daughters and grandchildren. (The writer is Rangaswamy's son-in-law and Associate Professor in Washington University at Seattle, U.S.)
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