Delhi's Jugaad - Reparing Electronic Gadgets – the saga of repairing a Record Player

Super Electronics - Ravi Kant Sharma and his electronic repair shop

The era of LP records was magical. The beautiful sounds of music charms the mind and soul. It is not a patch to the current digitized versions. Recorded live using musicians and artists, there was no room for error. It was magical, perfect and in tune nay missing a beat. I had the privilege of listening to these records at a very young age for a few years before they became obsolete and cassettes took over. Our old record player introduced me to the wonderful dog listening to the gram

ophone – yes the logo of HMV – His Master’s Voice.

The old HMV was replaced by HMV’s 1010 stereo, the romance continued but alas the stereo stopped working. The speed wheel fell out of favour. With the company not manufacturing record players, spare parts were not available. Well, the stereo and the wonderful collection of records remained carefully kept. The search for a repairer unearthed plenty but one was loathe to part with the system for fear that it might be ruined for ever.  

                                                               

Then Ravi Kant Sharma happened. The repair of the record player seemed fated as I discovered his shop pretty close by. Ravi Kant, runs this shop in Alaknanda’s mini market. The shop is a small cub hole with a small basement and an attic. What though stands out is his absolute love for electronic products – the older the better. And an absolute obstinacy to let go of any electronic item unrepaired. As he says, “jo dukhan mein atti hai woh yahan se teekh hoke jaati hai.” There is this maniacal fixation to hunt spare parts. His repertoire extends to tape recorders, TVs, Smart TVs, VCRs, VCPs, music system…. The shop is crammed with LCDs, VCRs, stereos, music systems, CD players.. His midas touch in repairing two of my walkmans and a 2in1 prompted me to query about his repairing the 1010 stereo. He readily agreed.

The set was transported to his shop and it lay there. Over a year, I would faithfully visit, see the stereo be happy that it was safe and come back. He was unable to get the Edler’s wheel. A search on the net then revealed spare part dealers in Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid. I gave the numbers. What materialized after literally months of chasing was well, M S Subbulakshmi singing redolently early in the morning. Our collection records have suddenly been revitalized and some wonderful wafts in the morning. It does take time to get used to records, their varying speeds, the means of playing it on either sides. There is no automatic streaming. It is manual and of a slow laid back era.

The repair has been well worth its wait. The speakers were galvanized and lo we were back in action. He can even add USB ports to older systems. He can offer connections by which yes I am able to play music from my smartphone on to the old speakers of our 1010 stereo! Strange!!

Shop timings – Super Electronic – Ravi Kant Sharma, Shop No. J-6, Main Market, Alaknanda. Evening after 5 pm. At Mini market Alaknanda Market, Alaknanda, New Delhi – 19 (Near Citizen Gas enterprises)

Insider Tip – the man is a gem not greedy but very reasonable. He has an insatiable appetite to repair the piece. He scouts and ultimately succeeds. My next task in an old Sanyo tape recorder and an even older Murphy Radio of my parentsJ

The man is old fashioned, believes in quality work and does not hurry. Go to him with some time, sit and chat. He believes in building relationships. Yes, even for taking money due to him. It is an old fashioned place, still untouched by greed, chalu kaam and shoddy workmanship. The work is well worth the time.

A slice of Bengal in Delhi - Basant Panchami at C R Park (Chittaranjan Park)

The Bengali bastion of Chittaranjan Park comes alive for Basant Panchami with beautiful Saraswati Dolls of all sizes. Kul, kanthali kola, jackfruits, drumstick flowers, shank alu and more… Basant Panchami marks the coming of the Basant Ritu and is celebrated across India. At one point of time people used to herald it by wearing yellow clothes. In Bengal it also marks the day for Saraswati Puja. The C R Park Market II, my favourite haunt for the unusual is packed with a whole lot of traditional items.

After getting the dates correct through Anindo Banerjee ex ABP with whom I have worked a lot, I trudge to C R Park Market I to pick up Nalen gur (khajur or palm gur) and shoot the buzzing market stocked with traditional “Puja” item, only to be told to come the next day when the market would be full. And it is full. There are batashas made of nalen gur, til ladoos, aam papads, drumstick flowers. Yes, drumstick flowers, I am told it is used to make delicious pakoras. There is nalen gur in abundance as also the syrup. What though stands out is the serene idols of Ma Saraswati, pristine in white with a calm expression, holding her veena perched on a swan. In true artistic style each protima is beautifully made and decked in clothes and jewellery. Kul traditional ber nice ripe red, there is delicious tiny bananas called kanthali kola similar to the ones got in Bangalore and Virupakshi from Pollachi. Green coconut with stalks, ink pot and pen (quills from bamboo).  The vegetable selection is nice and fresh, straight from Kolkata I am told. There are small jackfruits, small cute petas, wonderful green aubergines or brinjals, small karelas or bitter gourd, the range of poi shaak. The camera goes clicking furiously. Shopkeepers smile indulgently. There are decorations made from sholapith, the host of puja saman. The alu I am told is eaten raw with addition of salt. The Puja happens in quite a few places in C R Park. The Shiv Mandir puja and that at Raisina School in the morning till afternoon is blissfully divine. Saraswati puja is when students, artists pray for her Divine blessings in the pursuit of knowledge. I do so by offering Nalen gur payash!

(I start writing again after a longish spell in the hope that the Divine too blesses this journey. My mom is there as it also happens to be her Birthday)