Firstly, I can't even express how happy I am to be back in Bangalore. I've had a great time traveling all over the country and everything, but damn! It's good to be back in this city. Yes it's polluted, loud, abrasive, and crowded, but it's the next best thing to coming home. For one thing, the temperature is at least ten degrees cooler than every other place I've been in the last two weeks. Not to mention all the constant uncertainty and moving are finally over. Just a few short days until home! I've loved almost every minute of this trip, but I can't wait to see my family, friends, and animals.
Secondly: success! They said it couldn't be done, but we found some records in Bangalore.
I'm going to kill the mystery and thrill of the chase for some people by giving their names and general location. Future record hunter: you may choose not to read this if it offends your adventure sense, but good luck finding them on your own! There are two antique and curio shops on Avenue Road called Balaji's Silk Complex and Seethaphoneco that have pretty large collections. We looked for about an hour before we finally found Balaji's in the winding alleyways of Avenue Road. It's like a maze over there and it's absolutely packed to the brim with shop fronts, buyers, sellers, mannequins, motorcycles, rickshaws, and cows.
Balaji's: B-, A
र150 per record (roughly $2.50, $3.00)
We almost passed up the tiny alley that leads to the shop. This place has hundreds of them stacked on rickety shelves. I felt a little like Indiana Jones walking into a booby-trapped and extremely dusty treasure chamber. My fingers were black with dust by the time we were done rifling through the goods. Eventually we came out, having barely scratched the surface, with a handful of gems--old movie soundtracks, devotional music, and more, in a handful of different Indian language. I'm pretty green when it comes to records in general, but Indian music is something totally new for me. In other words most of the choices I made were based on album art. Some of the vinyl was scratched, but still playable. When we went downstairs to pay for them we discovered that there were at least another hundred more on the shelves along with stacks of old comics. It was well worth the black lung--this place was pretty cool.
Seetha Phone Co.: C-
र100-र500 (roughly $2.00-$10.00)
The second place was less impressive. The collection was smaller and, whereas Balaji had records in Tamil, Telugu, Gujarat, and every other Indian language, Seetha Phone Co. had only Hindi and English music. They also charged different rates for different records, which was kinda shitty since the shop owner had initially told us that they were all the same price.
So for those of you I promised to find records for: I think you'll be satisfied. And to all record lovers in Bangalore: good hunting!
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| Pathetic. |
Secondly: success! They said it couldn't be done, but we found some records in Bangalore.
I'm going to kill the mystery and thrill of the chase for some people by giving their names and general location. Future record hunter: you may choose not to read this if it offends your adventure sense, but good luck finding them on your own! There are two antique and curio shops on Avenue Road called Balaji's Silk Complex and Seethaphoneco that have pretty large collections. We looked for about an hour before we finally found Balaji's in the winding alleyways of Avenue Road. It's like a maze over there and it's absolutely packed to the brim with shop fronts, buyers, sellers, mannequins, motorcycles, rickshaws, and cows.
Balaji's: B-, A
र150 per record (roughly $2.50, $3.00)
We almost passed up the tiny alley that leads to the shop. This place has hundreds of them stacked on rickety shelves. I felt a little like Indiana Jones walking into a booby-trapped and extremely dusty treasure chamber. My fingers were black with dust by the time we were done rifling through the goods. Eventually we came out, having barely scratched the surface, with a handful of gems--old movie soundtracks, devotional music, and more, in a handful of different Indian language. I'm pretty green when it comes to records in general, but Indian music is something totally new for me. In other words most of the choices I made were based on album art. Some of the vinyl was scratched, but still playable. When we went downstairs to pay for them we discovered that there were at least another hundred more on the shelves along with stacks of old comics. It was well worth the black lung--this place was pretty cool.
 |
 |
Seetha Phone Co.: C-
र100-र500 (roughly $2.00-$10.00)
The second place was less impressive. The collection was smaller and, whereas Balaji had records in Tamil, Telugu, Gujarat, and every other Indian language, Seetha Phone Co. had only Hindi and English music. They also charged different rates for different records, which was kinda shitty since the shop owner had initially told us that they were all the same price.
So for those of you I promised to find records for: I think you'll be satisfied. And to all record lovers in Bangalore: good hunting!
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