"IPL Auctions are a fantastic ride down an untamed river": Charu Sharma

9) That brings me to my next question. This ability of yours to step into different roles and execute as if you have been doing it for years (which you have): what’s your advice to young professional sportscasters today?

Opportunities are so few in our country that my heart breaks for so many people who want to be a sportscaster.

Of course, [there are] many more opportunities now than say 10 years ago, and certainly 20 or 30 years ago. So they [opportunities] are improving, but they are still very, very limited here.

So many people love sport because it is such a barrier breaker. But in terms of opportunities, (un)like developed countries, we don’t have a big pyramid. There’s a national/international channel, then many other channels below, and then city channels of sport, and little leagues, and what have you...

But in India, we have only at the very top… And then nothing!

Luckily, there’s some language commentary now because of the fact that India is a multilingual country.

But what would be my advice?

One would be [to know] that anything you do which involves communication involves language. I would seriously, as I always do, recommend to those who wish to be in the business of communication, to please pay attention to the language they wish to speak in. It could be anything. It could be Oriya, it could be Rajasthani, Malayalam, English, Hindi… But we really need to understand that that [language] is our biggest tool of the trade.

So all those people who wish to be in a communicational space… I’m not even talking about sports commentary, probably need to pay a lot more attention to the knowledge of the language they wish to speak in. Because language is like an ocean. It is endless.

So if we are going to be limited in that [mindset] that ‘oh yeah, I can speak’, then the improvement levels tend to sometimes stagnate. And as you know, anywhere you stagnate is dangerous for growth.

Just keep making a huge effort to speak better and better and better. Know more… vocabulary, phraseology, whatever… Pay attention to it!

A lot of people think they know the sport and of course, sport is not rocket science. Any sport you play a bit, you know yaar. You don’t have to be… Michael Jordan. That is not the difficult part. Of course, there are certain nuances, and it’s always nice to have played at a certain level, which I was lucky to, for many sports. But thereafter, it’s all language, and that is where a lot of people don’t pay enough attention. Only then, other things in terms of voice and modulation, jokes and sense of humour… All that’s minor [in comparison].

If the language is not there, you are suffering. You are cliché-written all the time, you say the same things all the time.

You have to consciously develop the ability to say [something] in 15-20 distinctly different ways. Then you know you can enter any situation… And because you know that situation somewhat and because you have a reasonable hold on the language… You hold your own, yaar.

10) I guess that’s what gives you the confidence to explore all these different types of roles within communication; it stems from your confidence in language…

Exactly! If you have the words for it, and if you have many words for it, then you are not likely to get stuck. And even if you do get stuck, you have the confidence to swing around it a bit and seek other ways to exit rather than drown in a boat…

11) It almost sounds like a lawyer you know… same sort of wriggle room, or a politician… or a sportscaster, I guess!

(laughs) Oh please..ouch..that hurts!