Sushil Javeri was always a stickler for correct pronunciation. In 1980, when Prakash Padukone was plowing through opponents at the All England Badminton Championships on his way to victory, the newsreader and commentator got the Indian star to record the correct way of articulating his surname. Getting it wrong would have been sacrilegious for him.Javeri started out in 1955 as a music presenter in Bombay, and became a newsreader in Delhi a year later. Despite his familiarity with the studio setup, he remembers being nervous in front of the microphone during the first few months – “After that, I was confident of going live.” Now 88, Javeri considers de Mellow the “best newscaster in the world”, Menon the “best in India”, and Pandey the “best reader of Hindi news”.
At times, he says, it was difficult to remain unaffected on air. “I remember getting nearly choked when reading the news about Jawaharlal Nehru’s death, but not letting it affect my performance.” He talks of another bulletin that erroneously pronounced Jaiprakash Narayan’s death. “This was after Morarji Desai announced it in Parliament. But halfway through, I had to read out an apology, saying that he was still alive. This happened because the prime minister had been misinformed by the ailing leader’s doctors.”Javeri’s tenure is often remembered for his emphasis on the British accent. Apart from newsreading, he would hold extensive training sessions in which newsreaders were taught the British accent and their manner of reading checked. Though he now leads a retired life in Ahmedabad, Javeri continues to train youngsters on “how to speak English correctly”. There is still an emphasis on getting pronunciation right.
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