“When in doubt, call Vepa Sir” – this was the most reassuring line a student would leave Shimla with to explore the field of journalism outside Himachal Pradesh. And it worked without fail, year after year, for hundreds of his students.
Renowned journalist and educationist, Prof Vepa Rao, 76, who had introduced journalism as a career option at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, passed away at a Hyderabad hospital on Monday. The news didn’t come as a surprise given his frail health in recent months, but accepting a truth as harsh as death is tough no matter how prepared one is.
It was a tour through Himachal Pradesh in late 80s that he decided to make hills his second home. He quit his flourishing career with Hindustan Times as its Sunday editor and joined the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, as a resident fellow in 1987. He worked on ‘Communication and Development’ and his research took the form of a book — “A Curve in the Hills”. He founded the Journalism department at Himachal Pradesh University in 1990. He also headed the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, for a brief stint in 1996-97 and then returned to HPU.
The Himachal Pradesh government awarded him for development journalism in 1997. He was also conferred with an honorary D. Lit by the HPU for his contribution to the field of journalism after his retirement in 2006. He was brought back by the university in 2010 under the UGC’s re-employment scheme to assist the department.
A single all his life, every new batch of students expanded his adopted family and like a devoted father, he took upon himself to give the initial thrust to their journalistic journey and keep a track. He was also there to avoid derailments.
“If you pause for a few seconds while reacting to a situation, nine out of 10 times your reaction would be different…and better one”, he would say to take home the point that we should avoid being impulsive. Patience and perseverance he considered as the biggest blessings a person can possess.
As a teacher, most of his lessons were out of the classrooms. He never taught a class, he mentored individual students, without any of them realising that. He shaped lives. Concepts of journalism were discussed over tea-pakoras and gulab jamuns amid bouts of laughter. He often took his students out on study tours for on-field experience. As a routine, he would gather cuttings of an incident covered by different newspapers to show his student the difference between an excellent, good, average and poor reportage.
Born on January 28, 1946, in Andhra Pradesh, he studied at Calcutta University and then completed a course in journalism from Indian Institute of Mass Communication. After spending formative years of his youth in the corporate world, a tea estate job to be precise, he joined journalism, initially as a freelance contributor and then as a full-time staffer. Besides HT, he worked with The Tribune, Chandigarh, and The Statesman.
A man with elephantine memory, Vepa Rao would name the entire batch at the mention of a student he taught decades ago. He would coin a nickname for every student. Prin-i-ace, he would address me with. He loved to read biographies of Hindi film actors and had a sound understanding of Indian classical music.
He had set up Trust Aashirwad with a proposed learning centre at Jamta near Nahan in Sirmaur district of HP.
Since he his gone in body form, it is time to celebrate a life lived well – that’s how he wanted it to be. It is time to spend Rs 20,000 he has left behind for a snacks party at his favourite ‘adda’ in Shimla. “hahahhoohoo…Mogambo khush hua” – his favourite dialogue.
Adieu, Sir!
