Latika Ratnam

I don't know much about her but I grew up listening to her every night sharp at 9 pm. Her wonderful melliflous voice at 9 sharp announcing "This is All India Radio, the new read by Latika Ratnam" was my catch up with the world news and an opportunity to learn diction, pronunciation and voice modulation. Hard for today's generation to understand the power of radio and learning associated with it. our Heroes were not the likes of Kim Kardashians and Lindsay Lohans but people with real talent, passion for what they did and who led exemplery lives worth emulating. I knew nothing of what Latika did other than reading the news and as per my dad if I wanted to learn how to speak good English i had to listen to Latika's news, Melville D'Mello's sports broadcast even if I did not understand terminology like silly point and midwicket. And Learn I did. I practiced every day in front of the mirror learning to speak like Latika and Melville, of rolling my R's and throwing my voice. And every time a debate was around the corner I would pretend I was Latika and I'm proud to say I won many. And then Tejeshwar Singh happened! I really don't remember what he read and what calamity was he announcing, all i remembered was his crisp white shirt, his baritone voice and dreamy eyes. He was one of a kind, they don't make newsreaders like him anymore. The shrill, hysterical, uncouth, unrepresentable men and women are what passes off for TV journalists these days, especially in India. Their reading is always colored by their views and prejudices and they often pass judgement on the issue they are covering. Whatever happened to impartial reporting and communicating the news as it unfolds? And there is nothing to learn from them. Some do not even understand or speak the language they are reporting in. I miss the rose and grace of Salma Sultan, The bright bordered sari with impeccable Hindi diction of Sarla Maheshwari, the cool sophistication of Neethi Ravindran and the grave elegance of Tejeshwar Singh. May their tribe come back and teach our kids the importance of the spoken word.