Sports commentary is a very special performance art. In days of interactive audio-visual media, artificial intelligence and entertainment-is-all broadcasting madness, the subtlety and nuances of sports commentary is beginning to lose its form and identity. When radio-sets were a thing of treasured possession and the only medium of connecting with the grandeur of events, sport commentators and their voices rose to an unparalleled level of admiration and reverence. Their ways of explaining the small details of the game, the emotions on the faces of the players, their marvelous performances, their agonising failures, the madness of the crowd , weaved for the audience a world like no other. That world was not to be seen, but to be felt and to be owned in imagination. There was a sense of distant romanticism in the entire process of listening to their commentaries. Much later with the television channels coming into the broadcasting field and the cable,satellite and internet bringing every single detail to our bedrooms we experienced many legendary commentators. Channel 9 brought us to know of the pause of Richi Benaud, enthusiasm of Bill Lawry, curt observations of Ian Chappel and supreme excitement of Tony Greig. Star Network brought us the humour and brutal honesty of Geofrey Boycott and Henry Bloefield, the astute and passionate remarks of Tony Cozier, Harsh Bhogle and Sunil Gavaskar and the list will go on. But this article is not about them. This article is about a voice which gave eyes to countless fans from behind a radio set. The voice that created images of glory and tragedy, the voice of a time when visuals were created with neatly woven words. This article is about a beacon of that enchanting era of radio commentary, Mr. Ajay Basu. It is hard to believe that this is the 104th year of that legendary sports commentator and reporter and yet he is not remembered as much as he deserves. In the days when people thronged in front of radio sets to listen to cricket or football commentary, there were hardly anyone who was not mesmerised by the golden voice of Ajay Basu. The audience would wait as he would commence his commentary with a trademark opening stance –
"Namaskar, cricketer Nandan Kanan Eden Udyan theke bolchi, Ajay Basu. Sara darshok ashon aaj kanay kanay purno."
(Hello, I am speaking from the paradise of cricket, Eden Gardens Ground, Ajay Basu, the stadium is filled to its last seat.)
Ajay Basu is considered to have been the most popular and fluent Bengali radio commentator of that time. It all successfully started in 1957 by the elite duo of Ajay Basu and Pushpen Sarkar. Sometime later, in the field of cricket commentary, Ajay Basu brought in his compatriot Kamal Bhattacharya. Their partnership was as formidable as any that might be playing on the field. Being a sportsperson himself. Ajay Basu played cricket and football both for Sporting Union and so he was well aware of the rules, laws, ethics and principles of the two. Pushpen Sarkar was also very articulate and well-versed with statistical data and Kamal Bhattacharya was a good cricketer himself. These three could easily be remembered as the Holy Trinity of Bengali cricket commentary. But Ajay Basu was a perhaps a notch higher in appeal than the other two.
Basu was born in North Kolkata's chorbagan in 1920. He got his schooling from Scottish Church school. The great singer Manna Dey was his classmate. He started his career in " Jugantar" as a sports reporter and later went on to become the editor of it with his knowledge and passion for sports. There was a strange misconception among the mass that because he stayed in the Professor’s Quarters in Galiff Street, Kolkata, he must have been a Professor in Bengali Language. But that wasn’t the case at all. But this illusion was largely responsible for his mastery over the language which he used with great dexterity beautifully sparse with humour and grandiloquent expressions. Later when television came in, he made his natural transition to that medium but his voice from behind the radio-set remained the best. He wasn’t just doing it alone, instead he saw to it that a legion of commentators can be formed who would respect and carry this performing art ahead with the same sincerity and passion like his. Alongside him he saw others grow in the likes of Pushpen Sarkar, Kamal Bhattacharya, Premangshu Chatterjee, Shyam Sundar Ghosh, Rathin Mitra, Pradip Roy and Sukumar Samajpati. All of them formed the integral part of Bengali cricket and football commentary. Although Basu was known for his cricket commentary mostly, he was also at ease for commentating on and broadcasting the football matches. His voice would bring alive all the action from the Calcutta Football League, IFA shield and Federation Cup from the celebrated arenas of Eden Gardens, Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Mohun Bagan Ground, East Bengal & Aryan Ground and Mohammedan Sporting Ground. He saw it all, the legends of the game, their heroics and he delivered those stories in masterfully crafted phrases. He was a strict disciplinarian and his eye for details were unmatched. He would take great care to find out and study the technical aspects of all kinds of sports and would use them in the right moment to add the necessary dimension to the entire broadcasting process. It was only fitting that he could render his voice to relay the unfolding of the epic Eden Gardens Test match where India dramatically snatched victory from the apparently invincible team of Steve Waugh's Aussies. His words behind the microphone matched the on-field heroics of Laxman, Dravid and Harbhajan. He would not take any match lightly and although the audience pool for domestic matches was much smaller, yet he showed the same diligence and passion while commentating in Bengal's Ranji Trophy matches from Eden Gardens.
Alongside, it was know that he was fond of music and songs. He was a keen follower of Ustad Bade Gholam Ali Khan’s vocal presentations, Pandit Ravi Sankar's sitar and Ustad Bismillah Khan's shennai. He used to visit Viswadeb Chattopadhyay's house regularly to listen to musical programmes. He was also an avid reader of books. It somehow cannot be denied that his assessment and celebration as a commentator and journalist is yet to be done in due manner by the people of Bengal. This immensely talented individual, breathed his last in 2004 at the age of 84. "Fire Fire Chai", a collection of essays by Ajay Basu by Aajkaal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. remains one of his most important works. He was truly versatile and hence could seamlessly do commentary for others sports as table tennis, badminton and even lawn tennis.
If memories are held in our senses, Ajay Basu’s solemn yet endearing voice will remain in the auditory memories of millions of radio-enthusiasts for ages. In a time when digital record-keeping is as easy as taking a nap, it’s a pity that we couldn’t preserve his countless masterpieces from behind the micro-phone. Those lost pearls of radio-relay have made us nothing but poorer.
DoubleSpeak 