By IANS,
New Delhi : A day after India defeated Pakistan in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal in Mohali, veteran sports commentator Jasdev Singh received telephone calls from some of his old-time fans saying that they missed his passionate radio commentary that brought alive a match.
“I got four-five calls after the India-Pakistan match, saying they missed my commentary. One of the callers, from Lahore, said that radio commentary mein is baar mazaa nahin aaya (the commentary was dull),” Singh told IANS.
“It felt good that I am still alive in the people’s minds when it comes to radio commentary,” he added with a gentle laugh.
That’s not really surprising, considering that for over four decades from 1963, he was there – first for All India Radio and then for Doordarshan – for every sporting event that mattered, be it the Olympics, the Asian Games or national-level events, not to forget the Jan 26 Republic Day parade. What he is best remembered for are his passionate cricket and hockey commentaries.
With the advent of live TV coverage, radio commentary may have lost some of its popularity, but still holds good for many. People glued to transistor sets on the roads or radios blaring in eateries and shops is a common sight during any important event, more so during cricket matches.
“I am well known for my hockey commentary, but I have done a lot of cricket commentaries too. Radio commentary was different earlier… we used to just make points and speak impromptu, with emotion. Now people simply read out of scripts,” Singh pointed out.
“Even when I talk about commentators, now it has become more of a fashionable job. Public commentary is an art. It has to be nurtured,” he added.
Reminiscing about India’s historic 1983 World Cup victory, Singh said that while he would have liked to, he did not do the commentary for the match.
“Seeing Kapil Dev’s performance I had forecast that we would have to get the commentary of the final match. At that time, in All India Radio we were short staffed and did not send anyone to cover the match. We took the commentary from BBC,” he said.
Singh’s journey in the world of broadcasting began when he was all of 17 and heard broadcaster Melville De Mellow give a marathon commentary on Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral in 1948. So overwhelmed was he by that voice that he decided to become a radio commentator.
A recipient of the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third and fourth highest civilian honours, Singh comes from a family of engineers in Jaipur therefore his desire to become a commentator was met with surprise by his parents.
“My mother laughed at me because I did not know Hindi and wanted to become a Hindi/Urdu commentator. That somehow made me more determined to follow my idol, Melville De Mellow, and become like him,” Singh said.
“I may have retired, but commentating is my atma (soul). Public commentary is an art. It has to be nurtured,” he added.