Gramophone

Gramophone one of the vintage musical instruments. Whenever I see a gramophone I find it exquisite. Just by the way it looks. It looks regal. It looks elegant. It looks expensive. It looks rich. It looks like something that does not belong in a middle class house. At least that is what I used to think.

Now gramophone has nothing to do with a millennial's life. But I am very sure that many millennials like me who were or still are a fascinated by gramophones. We grew up using tape recorders. The tape recorders had no glory or glamour. They used to look exactly the same. There was nothing special about them. Or at least we used to think that there was nothing special about them. We had a lot of cassettes which were to be inserted inside those tape recorders. The cassette sometimes used to get unwound. We had to wind it using a pencil or a pen. It was fun to do that. Though it was not glamorous. It was all good till I saw the gramophone. When I saw the gramophone for the first time I was thoroughly impressed by it.

I had visited the house of one of my distant relatives. He also was a middle class person. He had gramophone placed in his living room. It was the first time I had seen the gramophone in the real life. I had only seeing the pictures of the gramophone in the book. I was surprised and my excitement was very evidence on my face. I asked him that how did he get a gramophone. I was thinking that gramophone had extinct just like that dinosaurs. He told me that he got it from one of his friends. His friend had got it from his grandfather. I asked my relative if the gramophone works. He not only said yes but he got a few vinyls from his collection. He played those. I was mesmerized by the whole experience.

Next day when I went to the school I told all my friends about the gramophone. I had given them all the specifics - how big it is; how exquisite it looks; how melodious it sounds; how it is superior to our tape recorders. While I was talking about the gramophone a lot of other students had gathered around me. Everyone was eager to hear about the gramophone. They were asking me many questions about it and I was more than happy to answer all those questions. They even asked me if I was a bluffing. I told him that I had seen it in person. Many of them even wanted to see it and ask me if I can take them to my relative's place so that they can see it. Of course that was not something I could have arranged. Gramophone which was a mystery in the childhood was no longer a mystery. It was a luxury witnessed.

In 2010 gramophones were trending again. They became available at certain shops. A lot of art collectors and music lovers had purchased them from the shops. But these were the modern gramophone and not the real vintage ones. They had lost their charm and royal appearance. Vinyls once were rare but now became widely available. Gramophones were no longer a luxury. Now they were affordable. Now they were also not intriguing.

Yet I still do not have a gramophone. So yes a millennials dream to own a gramophone is still a dream.