You'll never walk alone

LENIN GANI 1967-2013

Eminent sports journalist Lenin Gani passed away in London on Thursday. He was 46. He had been suffering from pulmonary hypertension and lung problems. His namaz-e-janaza will be held at a London mosque after Johr prayers today after his wife Sinthia Parvez returns to the UK. He will be buried at the Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery in Watford later.
Lenin's condition deteriorated Thursday afternoon. He was rushed to a hospital in North Hyde Park where doctors declared him dead at around 5:00pm. Lenin left behind his parents, three brothers, wife and a daughter and a host of well wishers to mourn his death.
Born on December 9, 1967, Lenin began his journalism career with the now defunct daily Morning Sun and moved to The Daily Star in 1992 as a sub-editor for sports. He was with the newspaper until 2006 before joining New Age as sports editor. He left for London to facilitate his treatment in August 2008. He later joined the Daily Sun as its sports editor and was finally involved with online news portal bdnews24.com as sports editor at the English Desk. Lenin was a recipient of the Best Sports Report in 2001 by Dhaka Reporters Unity. He also taught economics at the Maple Leaf International School before taking up journalism as a fulltime profession.
Lenin, who left The Daily Star as Senior Sub-Editor, dedicated the best days of his life to make the sports section a publication of envy. For nearly a decade and a half, he served The Daily Star Sport with integrity and dedication. A sports enthusiast to the core, Lenin continued to associate himself with the profession throughout. When a lung disease and other complications started limiting his mobility towards the end of 2012 it was in sports that he sought refuge and shared his years of invaluable experience in the form of online journalism.
The first thing to strike his former colleagues at The Daily Star about this rather methodical gentleman was his innate sincerity and punctuality. He was usually the first to reach office and the one to get the telexes, copies, and later on the downloadables organised for the rest of the people at Sport Desk. After that he would single-mindedly set his eyes on editing and with equal tenacity concentrate on page make-up.
Lenin was a no-nonsense professional. Many trainees and would-be journalists who had the good fortune of coming under his wing have learned more than our modern tutors of journalism would ever teach. He was a bridge between generations of sports journalism in Bangladesh. From the typewriter age to the tweets he held his own.
Beneath the professional gravity laid another Lenin. This was the Liverpool fanatic who stayed loyal to the Reds through thick and thin and absorbed all the good-natured ribbing of the colleagues. His love of cricket was West Indies-centric while keen following and vast knowledge of other games including tennis and golf told of a passion that drove the man despite his failing health.