Photos: C Sujit Chandra Kumar in front of the 'O Heraldo' office in Panjim; Sujit with his wife Vimina and son Bharath
By Shevlin Sebastian
I met C. Sujit Chandra Kumar over two decades ago when we became colleagues at ‘The Week’, part of the Malayala Manorama Group in Kochi. Later we were colleagues at ‘The Hindustan Times’, Mumbai.
I remember our late-night conversations after work, as we walked to Mahim station to catch the train home. In all the years I have known him, I have never seen him lose his temper. He has always remained mild-mannered.
These days, our conversations, mostly on the phone, revolve around ideas, concepts, philosophy, the meaning of life, and the relentless forward movement of time.
Sujit has built a stellar career. He has covered major international cricket tournaments, like the Indian cricket team’s tour of the West Indies in 1997, the Asia Cup in Colombo, the Wills International Cup in Dhaka in 1998, the 1999 World Cup in England and the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002.
He also covered the series between India and Pakistan in Pakistan in 2004.
In 2004, Sujit went to Sri Lanka to cover the constitutional crisis. It was a power struggle between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over how to handle the country’s long-running conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Sujit accompanied Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Nigeria.
His career has taken him to ‘The Muscat Daily’ and ‘The Deccan Chronicle’ (in both Chennai and Kochi), before he became head of the features section at ‘The Times of India’, Kochi.
He later headed operations for ‘E Times’, served as senior faculty at Mathrubhumi Media School, and spent two years as Head of Corporate Communications at Manappuram Finance Limited in Valapad, near Thrissur.
This month, Sujit became the editor of the Panaji-based newspaper ‘O Heraldo’. This 125-year-old newspaper began in Portuguese and shifted to English in October 1983.
It’s a signal achievement, making him the first, and most likely the only one, among our peers to reach the editor’s chair in print media.
“It’s a challenging role,” he said. “I am growing into it. And I am enjoying the process of influencing and getting influenced by society.”
His academic record is also impressive.
Sujit did his MPhil in English Language and Literature from Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli and an MA in English from the University Institute of English in Thiruvananthapuram. He has a certificate in journalism from Madurai Kamaraj University.
Sujit won a Chevening Scholarship to do a course at the University of Westminster, UK. For a while, he worked at ‘The Guardian’, London, where he published seven articles in the Society section.
As for his personal life, Sujit is married to Vimina, a counsellor at Adarsh Charitable Trust. His son Bharath works in the marketing department of ‘The Hindu’, Kochi.
All the best, Sujit, in your new assignment, and may you continue to scale new peaks in the future.
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