Kolkata Betar came alive on August 26, 1927, at No. 1 Garstin Place in central Calcutta. The inaugural programme had six participants. There were two divisions, the Indian division and the European division. The first was headed by Nripendranath Majumdar. He was among many things a gifted clarinet player. Before he joined radio, he had worked in many plays. He was the Midas at whose creative touch Kolkata Betar blossomed. The other person who was associated with Kolkata Betar from the first day of its journey was Rajendranath Sengupta. In 1911, Mohun Bagan defeated the British East Yorkshire Regiment to win the IFA Shield final; in that match Sengupta had played centre-half.
On Day 1, Majumdar played the clarinet and spoke about the vision for radio which was in those days known as Indian Broadcasting Service (IBS), while Sengupta made the announcements and read the news. In 1936, IBS was christened All India Radio or AIR and in 1956, it came to be renamed Akashvani. In 1958, Akashvani moved out of No. 1 Garstin Place.
Dinendranath Tagore, Angurbala Devi, Krishna Chandra Dey, Prafullabala were among the other participants. Raichand Boral played the tabla and Sitangshujyoti Majumdar, who was also known as Boku Babu, sang.
(From left) Indira Devi, Angurbala Devi, Raichand Boral and Nirad C. Chaudhuri
One after another more creative talents joined Kolkata Betar. The programmes were distinctive and put together with care. There was Mahila Mahal, which was essentially a programme dedicated to women. There was Chhotoder Ashor by Jogeshchandra Basu, who was a high court advocate. By the time he died in 1930, he had made the programme rather popular.
Basu’s persona was known as Golpo Dada. After his death, the programme came to be called first Golpo Dadar Ashor and then Golpo Dadur Ashor.
Indira Devi started Shishumahal from Garstin Place. Then there was Pallimangal Ashor. A lot of songs were composed for this programme. Radio plays were composed. In the 1930s, there was a programme called Rabindra Jayanti but Tagore did his first broadcast only in 1938. From Gouripur Lodge in Kalimpong, he recited his poem Janmadin and it was aired live.
In the early years, the first and second floors of No. 1 Garstin Place were rented out to Kolkata Betar. On the ground floor was a liquor shop. In time the building was taken over by AIR.
Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay has written that the house used to be Clive’s residence for a while. At some point, the East India Company’s soldiers lived here and much later, British civilians. There are also accounts that the house had been a hospital for infectious diseases. The Daws of north Calcutta purchased the property in the second half of the 19th century.
The shifting histories, multiple avatars lent a special appeal to No. 1 Garstin Place, gave it a certain character. It also stoked the many ghost stories associated with it.
Long before he became famous as a film actor, Bikash Roy worked as a radio artiste at this address. He has written about the ghost of one Gary saheb who was rather helpful.
Once, according to Roy, Gary saheb pushed a bearer down the service stairs. Now, the bearer was a mischievous chap, often carried tales to the bossman and landed other employees in trouble. Roy wrote that Gary saheb’s intervention gave the employees relief.
Actor Haradhan Bandyopadhyay too had worked at Garstin Place. One evening as he was walking down the corridor, he spied a tall shadowy figure floating towards him and sprinted for life. Birendra Krishna Bhadra used to scold the ghosts. Indubala came to do a recording and fainted after seeing one.
When Kazi Sabyasachi had a ghostly visitation, he reported the incident to the duty officer. In My AIR Days Remembered, Bulbul Sarkar writes that when the duty officer upbraided Kazi Sabyasachi, saying a hefty person like him should not be so chicken-hearted, Kazi Sabyasachi insisted he check the studio and see for himself the door swinging open and shut mysteriously.
Sarkar writes, “As soon as the studio light was switched on, it revealed Western music announcer Glen Pavey smoking a cigarette and pushing the studio door with his long leg.” Some years ago No. 1 Garstin Place was razed. In its place now stands a new office building. What endures are the stories and the spirit of a legendary address.
As told to Moumita Chaudhuri
Avik Chattopadhyay is a music researcher and an essayist