geet mala

Even after the advent of the idiot box in the early 80s, there was one radio show that my folks would never miss. Once a week the familiar glow would be replaced by a familiar crackle, followed by that voice we knew so well saying, "Halooooo, main hoon Ameen Sayani aur aap sun rahe hain Cibaca Geet Mala." When that voice suddenly has a face, clothes, polished shoes, white hair, huge frames for thick glasses and a neatly clipped moustache, it suddenly starts feeling like the twilight zone. But it wasn't. Here was the voice of Radio Ceylon, the voice of Vividh Bharathi, the voice of AIR, the voice of India. His humility is disarming, his accent flawless and he writes his own endorsement scripts in a scrawled mixture of Hindi, Urdu and English. A part of me fell in love with this charming man. The part that grew up listening to him.