RETURN OF VINYL

I cut my teeth in music on 78 rpm shellac records played on a hand-wound His Master's Voice gramophone. It was fun winding the machine with a hand-crank to rotate the turntable, placing a record on it and putting the tone arm on the record to start playing. A record would normally be about 3 minutes long and as it approached its end, I would start rewinding vigorously so that the music would continue with little disruption.

Then came electric players which overtook all the manual functions after putting the record on the turntable. One could even stack 7-8 records on a vertical spindle so that they would change automatically and the music would play uninterrupted for a long time. Records were made of vinyl and came in two additional sizes: the smaller 45 rpm ones with just one or two songs and the long-playing (LP) 33 1/3 rpm which would last for about half an hour.

When I was in School, there were no shops selling English records in Jaipur. Then Rajendra "Sunny" Sahai, two years my senior and elder brother of my good friend Yadu, passed out from School and went to St. Stephen's Delhi. He told me that there was a shop, Marques and Co. in Connaught Circus which mainly sold musical instruments but also records. So whenever I came to Delhi, I would visit the shop and buy a whole lot of them. The shop also sold a small book with lyrics of top songs of the year. That was another 'must buy' for me annually.

When we shifted to Delhi after my retirement from the Navy, Shumita wanted to buy a piano. So off we went to Marques and bought one. The shop was being managed by Marques Jr. who played many instruments including the piano. He became Shumita's tutor and used to come home for her lessons. I told him about my earlier visits and whenever he came, he and I would chat a lot about the good old days.

Buying records was a great experience particularly in Bombay. There was this big shop, Rhythm House, at Kalaghoda just 100 metres from Lion Gate, entrance to the Naval Dockyard, which had many cubicles with record players. So you picked up a few LPs, locked yourself up in a cubicle, and spent as much time as you wanted listening to your favourite songs. Nobody cared if after hours of listening, you didn't even buy anything!

Many restaurants installed jukeboxes in which a large number of singles were stacked. You went through the titles, inserted a coin and played the number of your choice. A favourite cafe of mine was Napoli, next to Ambassador hotel near Marine Drive in Bombay, which usually had all the numbers of my current liking. I would spend more on the jukebox than on what I ate or drank there.

Cassette revolution followed and vinyl records started disappearing. Advantages of audio cassettes were that they and their players were small in size and could be fitted anywhere such as in cars, or in a Walkman while jogging or walking. Cassettes have been overtaken by CDs which too are small and being digital, have a smooth and unwavering sound.

And now, vinyl is making a comeback! Apparently, 41 million vinyl records worth $1.2 billion were sold in the US in 2022. Each LP costs Rs. 3000-25000 depending on its quality and if you need a player, you can buy one for Rs. 1-4 lakhs.The last LP I bought was in late '90s from a shop in Chandni Chowk. I have forgotten what I paid for it but I believe the price has quadrupled in the last two years.

So why are people going back to vinyl and larger discs? According to experts, the analog sound of vinyl reverberates and creates a warmer sound. CDs are digitally mastered and create too perfect a sound whereas the rawer format of vinyl is more akin to how an artist truly sounds.

But for me, the biggest factor is nostalgia. After I joined the Navy, my visits home became less frequent. Many years later, I searched for my old gramophone but it was missing. On inquiring, Mataji, my Nani, told me that she had got rid of it as it was old and nobody was using it. I was heartbroken. Meanwhile, I had bought myself a record player. So even when cassettes and CDs were the rage, I resolved that I would always keep my player for old times' sake.

For some time the player and the records were lying idle. But I have brought them all out now. It is so exciting to go through the collection and look at, say the 12"x12" picture of Francoise Hardy, put the disc on the turntable, choose the track I want to listen to and place the stylus there. Then watch the turntable turn, turn, turn and savour the charming song in a hypnotic trance.

Time for me now to go and look for Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal with "Love means never having to say sorry" on the cover and listen to "Love Story".