" This is All India Radio " : Surajit Sen

A day after August 15, 1947, 22-year-old Surajit Sen walked into All India Radio and was offered a newscaster’s job. This young man went on to become the voice of radio, decades before the advent of TV, and later, the high-decibel entry of private television channels. In the old days when radio ruled the waves, it was Sen’s instantly recognisable voice that set the tone for national celebrations; and a wonderfully mellow tone it was, old-timers remember, soothing the nation’s nerves amid the uncertainties and upheavals of new nationhood. Sen started out in the army, spending a couple of years there, until a superior gave him a friendly tip. “I was told I was wasting my time in the army, and would end up as a colonel or brigadier, whereas on radio my reputation would be unsurpassed.” So he joined AIR, turning down an offer from the BBC.

Those were the days when growing up meant reading the editorials in the national English mainline dailies to achieve that cutting edge in vocabulary over your peers while polishing your diction of the Queen’s English meant tuning into the All India Radio English news broadcast. Those were the days when the AIR was the undisputed king of media, that voice of the nation brought alive by certain legends of yester-years — Melville de Mellow, Surajit Sen, Lotika Ratnam, and Moby Clarke, to name a few.

Those were the days when news over voice, the precursors of today’s electronic media, was religion, and many swore their life over its contents and objectivity. There was absolutely no ambiguity, the news was the last word and the room for errors almost nil. When Mr. Sen started his bulletin in his unfathomable baritone, recognized by all across the nation, “This is All India Radio, the news read by Surajit Sen…” you could easily feel the goosebumps rise all over your body. Such was the magic in the man’s voice who once set out to carve a career for himself in the armed forces. It was during his stint there that his officers pointed out that he could make a better living by lending his voice over the radio, that upcoming medium, which could later pitchfork him into that rarefied stratosphere of radio journalism.When radio ruled the waves, it was Sen’s recognisable voice that set the tone for national celebrations. Folklore has it that he swallowed two raw egg yolks daily to make his voice mellow. He even offered it as a tip.

It was an innocent time when there was only one All India Radio and there was no quarrel about its stated objective: to be the voice of the State itself. The margin for error was nil. Sen along with other famous radio personalities of the era like Melville de Mellow, Lotika Ratnam, Nobby Clarke, Manoranjan Bharati and Preminda Premchand, spoke to the nation with a sense of mission. No flippant, off-the-cuff remarks. No hysterical, high-pitched commentary. The news was firmly grounded in facts. For Sen & Co, this was “objectivity” and they revered it. Others of his ilk also recall how news was vetted before it was aired, and newscasters practised reading the news several times before they sat in front of the microphone. “It was important to sound convincing and credible.

Beside being a newscaster, Sen also recorded many important historical events throughout his career, yet today he struggles to retrieve them from his memory. In fact, he was the first foreign correspondent to reach Dhaka after Pakistan surrendered in 1971 and interview the top political leaders of newly-founded Bangladesh.

In his house is a black-and-white frame of the historic Declaration of Independence signed by General Niazi from Pakistan and J.S. Aurora from the Indian side in 1971. You can see Sen with generals, too. Former Chief Newsreader passed away on 6 May 2016 at the age of 89 .

Contributed by :- Shri. Mitul Kansal ,kansalmitul@gmail.com