by Herman Gunesekera - Sunday Observer July 24, 2005

Soon it will be almost a month since Jimmy Barucha passed away. I had noted a worthy appreciation written by my friend Laddie Hettiarachchi in which he had referred to the early and mid '60s in broadcasting. My association with Jimmy began at the end of the same decade. Jimmy was handling the popular weekly "Crookes Hit Parade" which I was co-ordinating for Zenith Advertising where I was at the time.

What was unique about this man was his affable and humble mannerism; his amazing capacity to simply listen to those who did not possess a tenth of his knowledge in broadcasting and music and yet make them feel as if they were the authority and not he. Never once during my long association with him have I seen him display his huge wealth of knowledge or attempt to force it on anyone or even show annoyance at anyone.

Jimmy was a man who neither advertised himself nor aspired for position. In fact, I believe it was this very characteristic of his that prevented him from reaching even higher echelons in his chosen field. So unassuming was he that few were aware of his credentials. In the initial stage of our friendship, he struck me as bashful - sometimes to the point of been reclusive. Later I realized that he reserved his social life for those who were really near and dear to him.

At this point, I recall an incident that took place in those good old days.

I had been advised by some friends at the station that Jimmy disliked and even refused to sit in front of a 'mike' if anyone was around. I had rushed into the station at lunchtime and was frantically attempting to locate Jimmy to iron out some matter relating to the following week's programme.

I finally found him seated in the cramped little Studio A, while his Production Assistant occupied the larger partitioned area which contained the controls. Jimmy was taken aback by this panting young Ad Agency man barging in and seating himself in front of him when he was about to open the afternoon transmission. I had no idea at the time that he was about to do so and went on exchanging the usual pleasantries and blabbing non-stop.

In my naivety, I failed to see his discomfort caused by my bold and unscheduled invasion of his privacy. Poor Jimmy, not wishing to hurt my feelings by ordering me out of the studio, pleaded with me not to make a noise that he was about to go on the air! Soon after the opening announcements, Jimmy politely asked me if we could meet afterwards and I left him.

While the experience was exhilarating to a young man who also aspired to be a broadcaster someday, I had unintentionally earned the privilege of been one of the very few to share such an experience. This was revealed to me by Sugath Adikari - a skilled Production Engineer, who Jimmy held a high esteem.

Jimmy Barucha to my mind, was the encyclopaedia of broadcasting and music, ever willing to share his knowledge with anyone. He possessed a library of music titles and meticulously maintained and updated that library. If ever one wished a piece of music or clarification of some detail, no matter which era it belonged to, Jimmy would provide the answer.

Jimmy was a perfectionist - a tireless worker who would spend hours late in to the night in the transmission room of Radio Ceylon listening to foreign programmes and transcriptions.

The rich and unmistakable timbre of Jimmy Barucha's voice has been stilled and though the broadcasting waves, may not relay it again, it will ring in the minds of all those who loved him - that includes millions who only heard him and did not have the good fortune of knowing him.

I thank God for my friendship with Jimmy.

 Thank you for publishing the piece on Jimmy Bharucha in your issue of November 07 (Midweek Review -As I Like It). Lots of responses from dear readers. One among them was Dr West Moder. He wrote in to say that I missed the name of Jean Gonsal. He was right. The Gonsal sisters were Hindi announcers too. I thank him for that.

 Since I wrote only from memory, I did not have the full list. May I take some space to give some more names of the English announcers whom I missed. To keep the record updated here are some more names. I thank longstanding listener of the SLBC, Marie Amarasinghe for sending me these names. My apologies to those whose names were left out inadvertently.

 The names are:

 Vimala de Saram, Manik Kalupahana , the late Tommy Perera, his wife Mahes Perera, Jean Abeysekera,Terrence, Dudley Jansz, Palitha Jayasuriya, Derreck Meloney, Lakpriya Nanayakkara, Dhaniska Kurukulasuriya, Manoj Hettiarachchi, and his wife Maisha, Eric Gauder. Thank you Marie.

 Some other names I remember are: Bhakthi Abeysuriya, Eric Fernando, Bianca.

 There may be more names.

 Since the SLBC has no records of the presenters who came over the air in English, my little contribution and the assistance given by Dr Modder and Ms Marie Amarasinghe would help them to keep a record. But do the powers that be at the helm really read what we write?

 Since yours truly is on a holiday, his column As I Like It will appear from mid January. Cheers!

 K. S. Sivakumaran
Colombo 06.

Daily Mirror Sat Nov 17 2007