Bobby Talyarkhan: Commentator extraordinary

Talyarkhan was the man who spread the news about Indian cricket like no one ever did. His voice carried cricket to even the most distant parts of the land, thanks to All India Radio. Just as he worshipped fire, he had the fire in his heart to be a cricket crusader.

He had no qualms in taking on the figureheads of Indian cricket to task. He pilloried the influential and the powerful. CK Nayudu, Vijay Merchant, Duleepsinhji, Vizzy, Anthony D’Mello and whoever was becoming too dictatorial in Indian cricket faced his wrath in no uncertain manner. His was the Voice of the 1940s Generation.

Unlike the general trend among media personnel in India today who fall backwards to please the mighty and the wealthy, Talyarkhan had absolutely no time for flattery or for favours. He was his own man. He feared and favoured none.

By the age of 40, his was a reassuring face and voice of Indian cricket. A man who would be forthright, honest and have nothing to do with the high and the mighty. The young man had a mind of his own and did not depend on ‘inside stories’ and ‘quotes’ from various sources. He remained so till the very end.

With the microphone in hand, Ardeshir Furdonji Sohrabji Talyarkhan was an institution by himself. The handsome man had clear-cut features and more importantly a clean conscience. He became in many ways the conscience of Indian cricket.

 As a freelance commentator with All India Radio, his voice was the first to reach millions in obscure corners. People around the country were thrilled to hear of the exploits of Nayudu, Nissar, Amarnath and Mushtaq. AFST brought a new dimension to the character of cricket followers in India.

If Talyarkhan helped to spread the news of cricket to youngsters in distant corners, almost 50 years later another freelance journalist from Andheri in Bombay helped these far-flung young talents  to find their feet in Indian cricket through his brilliant concept of talent-scouting.

Rare talents like Dhoni, Raina and Irfan Pathan from uninfluential places surfaced as BCCI adopted the talent-spotting system. These media-men are the genuine servants of Indian cricket who have purposely kept themselves out of the spotlight. May their tribe increase for the benefit of sports in India.

To Talyarkhan should go to a great extent the credit for creating the mass appeal for cricket in India. Beginning from the late 1930s for a full decade and a half he held the radio listeners spellbound with his distinct and unaffected accent, impeccable command over the English language, knowledge of the intricacies of the game and his wide array of anecdotes.

At the time people in non-major cities and towns had little scope to watch Mankad, Merchant, Amar Singh and Hazare in action. They relied entirely on the All India Radio cricket broadcasts. AIR on its part thankfully discovered a man who was a ‘natural’ communicator in speech, a predecessor to another legend with the mike in hand, John Arlott of BBC.

AFST or Bobby, as he was fondly called, captivated a whole generation by creating personalities out of cricketers, as Neville Cardus and Robertson-Glasgow (Crusoe) would do with their pen. Talyarkhan knew the art of holding the audience’s attention. He had all those sterling qualities to make radio-listeners want him more and more.

But he was no egoist. Not a man who would threaten players or ask for favours from influential officials. He would not go and sit at the feet of cricket legends and have meals with them. No, no, he did not believe in seeking publicity for self. Nor would he accept fat cheques from influential quarters to flatter the undeserving.

On the contrary, AFST enjoyed his own company especially when he was at work. He just could not tolerate fools nor could he accept silly inanities from even established cricketing personalities. It was said that if in discussions AFST found anyone saying anything prejudicial or irrelevant, he would just ignore the man and walk out. He wasted no time in unnecessary verbal duels.

AFST at 37 spoke over the AIR for the first time in 1934 when he covered the Quadrangular match between the Parsees and the Muslims at the Esplanade maidan in Mumbai. From the very first day he captured the attention of the listeners with his well-modulated voice, his rendition of anecdotes and events and his easy relaxed manner. Since that day he was his own boss.

He knew the art of radio commentary. Fluent and accurate in description, he knew how to punctuate with pauses and voice modulation. His comments were invariably precise and pointed.

When AFST commentated over AIR, he would do so alone. He never needed or wanted anyone around him. For hour after hour people would be engrossed listening to his cultured and well-informed comments. He hated having co-commentators beside him! Like the umpires, he did not miss a single ball at a match!

Even while commentating on football and hockey, which he would do at times, he would do so all alone. Out of the broadcast box, hours he would spend reading and researching; contemplating and analyzing. He knew his sport, whether it was cricket, hockey or football. He knew the background and the psyche of sportspeople. He himself had played almost all games that were available to him at school.

Suddenly in the 1950s AFST stopped commentating. AIR quite rightly desired other commentators to join him inside the commentators’ box. AFST flatly refused to have company! He found it ‘insulting’ to share the microphone with commentators who were way beneath him in ability.

AIR probably had made the mistake of having so-called ‘big cricket names’ to give him company. Most of the former players were extremely disappointing in their verbal skills and at times, quite surprisingly, even in the knowledge of the history and the laws of cricket! They seemed highly biased generally.

It is true that no one else quite measured up to the extempore skills of the one and only AFST. But others too had their strong points: Vizzy with his wide range of cricket anecdotes; non-emotional Berry Sarbadhikari with his impeccable description of scenario; later VM Chakrapani, Anant Setalvad and Sydney Friskin with their fluent diction and easy manner; and Pearson Surita despite his heavy accent were attractive enough.

Undoubtedly Chakrapani, Setalvad and Friskin were a credit to their profession. But none of them came close to the magnetic all-round appeal of Talyarkhan. Later from Pakistan arrived Omar Qureshi to remind listeners of the brilliance of our very own AFST.

One man much later who was as brilliant, as prolific and as knowledgeable as AFST was the ubiquitous Rajan Bala. Bala seemed to be all over the media. Writing erudite match-reports; producing top-quality prose in his regular offerings and then commentating over the radio with all his usual gusto. Bala, like AFTST before him, had all the exemplary skills one associates with commentators.

Gregarious and out-spoken, Rajan Bala too had problems with the mediocrity around him at AIR and gladly opted for greener pastures with BBC. He was certainly a valuable jewel to the BBC panel of summarizers as he was with other foreign media houses. He possessed the clipped, classical Oxbridge accent and was a delight to listen to. Rajan Bala and AFST together would have been the ultimate dream.

First heard about Bobby Talyarkhan from my father. Dad had an open mind and was a very well-informed judge. He had heard both AFST and Rajan Bala and rated both of them very highly.

Despite terminating his commentary contract, AIR had the broad-mindedness to realize the wide appeal of AFST, both among the connoisseurs as well as among the general enthusiasts. Talyarkhan was invited with all due honour to continue doing radio programmes till almost his death at 93. He wrote extensively for Times of India and for Mid-Day.

English author Christopher Martin Jenkins remarked very succinctly, “…It was perhaps symbolic of his commitment to his profession that the day his last column appeared was also the day the paper carried the news of his death in 1990…”

The mass appeal for cricket in our non-metropolitan cities and towns began with the advent and the fluent renditions of the one and only Bobby Talyarkhan over All India Radio since the 1930s.

Our sports culture is such that name of Bobby Talyarkhan does not register in the minds of our sports administrators. Whereas abroad broadcasters like Arlott, McGilvray, Cozier and Qureshi, among others were honoured by their respective nations, here in India an exceptional commentator like AFST has been totally ignored and forgotten.

Ignorance or indifference you decide, my readers.