Remembering JSB Brownson, Mumbai's first railway announcer

Itrsquos hard nigh impossible to imagine a Mumbai railway station without the announcer How would you know which platform to run to What is the order of the coaches in your train Yet the suburban railway system once functioned without these guiding voices until one man decided to provide this service to passengers That man was JSB BrownsonJSB Brownson left with Prakash Kurbet the current Dadar announcer who attended the AIR training sessions and learnt the nuances of the trade from himTicket checks to mike checkJoseph Sudhir Barnabas Brownson joined Central Railway CR on May 4 1957 as a ticket checker TC at Ulhasnagar ldquoIn those days there were no announcers TCs used to call out train timingsrdquo says Venkatesh Desai a retired chief railway controller who worked with Brownson at Central Railway Desairsquos book in Marathi Rail Chakra a treasure trove of anecdotes and incidents mentions the manJournalist Rajendra Aklekar who runs the Bombay Railway History Group which documents the history of railways in the city explains ldquoRailways in then Bombay were electronised in phases First was CR mdash then called Great Indian Peninsula Railway mdash 1925 followed by Western Railway then Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway in 1928Post electronisation station masters or TCs made announcements over microphones Brownson was one of the early announcersrdquoAfter working at Kalyan and Kurla Brownson moved to Dadar on June 11 1963 The TCs then had many jobs mdash checking tickets changing indicators they were manually operated then and announcing train arrivals and departures Speaking on the mike was not their forte Nobody could decipher what they said people called them lsquobomblyarsquo Marathi for lsquoone who blabbersrsquoBrownson however was clear and precise He delivered information in an easy understandable manner ldquoPeople started coming to Dadar just to listen to his announcementsrdquo says Desai He speaks admiringly of Brownson who he says developed his own style and diction for announcementsAn old newspaper report about Brownsonrsquos parttime scheme which paved the way for women announcersThe Dadar announcerEventually Brownson was given a cabin and became the first fulltime announcer of Mumbai division So mesmerising was his voice that Marathi theatre stalwarts mdash Satish Dubhashi Datta Bhat Bal Kolhatkar Mohan Wagh etc mdash not only appreciated his work but also they invited him to their plays Melville De Mellow the All India Radio legend known for his broadcast commentary of Mahatma Gandhirsquos funeral commended himldquoPeople called him Dadar announcer even after he retiredrdquo says his son Moses who is also with the Railways He recalls his fatherrsquos efforts during summer holidays there was no computerised reservation then ldquoPeople would put up pandals outside railway counters to book tickets This was called lsquosummer rushrsquo My father would be in office for days making announcements on where to line up for tickets and controlling the chaotic crowdsrdquo adds Moses This dedication earned him 21 awards a list of which Moses shows us with great pride ldquoThere was a small TV set outside the announcerrsquos office in which people could see my father making announcements Thatrsquos how most people knew himrdquo he recallsMentoring othersAfter 16 years at Dadar Brownson moved to Victoria Terminus now CST in 1979 as chief announcer of the Central Announcement System CAS which was also introduced then Any announcement made through this system could be heard at all stations from Masjid to Kurla then Today the CAS goes all the way up to Karjat Kasara and Panvel on the three arms of the massive Mumbai division of Central RailwayAfter his move to the CAS encouraged by the then divisional railway manager K Ramakrishnan Brownson wrote the firstever handbook for announcers The booklet is the Bible for rookies with guidelines announcement formats in all three languages Brownson was fluent in Marathi Hindi and English and tips see boxMilind Hiwale the current chief announcer at CST credits Brownson for formalising the system and for virtually establishing the system from scratch Brownson brought in new announcers and mentored them personally teaching them the tricks of the trade lsquoBrowniersquo as friends and colleagues called him maintained a dedicated highquality teamOn his suggestion they were sent to All India Radio Delhi for voice training classes Prakash Kurbet the current announcer at Dadar was one of them ldquoBrownson taught me how to speak on the mike He even gave me vocal chord and mouth exercises to make sure I had clarity in my voicerdquo he remembersSpearheading changeAround 1982 or so Brownson introduced a scheme for collegegoing children of railway employees to work as parttime announcers This resulted in the first batch of women announcers joining CR many of whom became fulltime employeesAlmost a decade later the announcement system was automated mdash people wouldnrsquot have to call out train timings every few minutes A prerecorded message would be played as per the train schedule Manual announcements would be made only in case of emergencies or special situations like it is todayldquoIn 199293 the system was being automated Brownsonsaheb supervised all recording sessions at the studio All current train announcements are based on his guidelinesrdquo says Hiwale who now heads 170 announcers in CRrsquos Mumbai divisionBrownson retired in May 1994 and passed away on October 17 2007 For a man who spoke for 38 years and whose work is now synonymous with Mumbai Brownsonrsquos name is rarely uttered Herersquos wishing more people speak about this unsung hero