Three Mumbaikar collectors share their passion for audio cassettes

Itrsquos probably been years decades even since wersquove had to flip an audio cassette to hear the songs on the lsquoBrsquo side or spend hours mixing a tape for a loved one But when Dutch engineer Lou Ottens the inventor of the audio cassette passed away last week music enthusiasts across the world hit rewind reminiscing about Walkman days when the pocketsized piece of music empowered us with a private listening experience and how pencils were used to respool unravelled tapes In a world now dominated by digital playlists three cassette collectors from the city who never let the dust settle on their prized collections share how theyrsquove stayed tuned in to this hobbyLou Ottens Pic CourtesyWikimedia CommonsRockstars on the shelfColin PintorsquosVasaibased Colin Pinto who boasts of a collection of coveted hard rock albums by Deep Purple Led Zeppelin Iron Maiden ACDC Black Sabbath The Who and the likes remembers that before cassettes came into his house they only had the radio ldquoThe first cassette I bought for myself was a live concert of Deep Purple in Japan when I was visiting Kathmandu in 1983Collection of rock albumsAt the time I used to borrow my friendrsquos tape recorder before buying a Sony stereo system in the late rsquo80srdquo shares the 61yearold who continued to tune into his collection late into the 2000s Relatives in the Gulf and friends who stopped listening to hard rock contributed to his collection which has grown to over 100 tapes today ldquoI was known in the Kalina area then because of my collection I used to open clean and fix them with pencils because I was very fond of themrdquo he addsNotes from a vintage collectorA stereo and cassettes from Mathurrsquos collectionFor home chef Deepak Mathur 50 cassettes are an extension of his love for all things music and vintage ldquoIt was a big trend to record your own mixes back then So I would head to this shop on Peddar Road to get songs recorded All my pocket money would go into itrdquo recollects the owner of around 1000 tapes stereos head cleaners Walkmans and other oldschool musical artefacts that date back to the 1970s and rsquo80sldquoMy first memory of cassettes is listening to Lionel Richiersquos voice on tape But my favourite and most cherished cassette is Led Zeppelinrsquos Houses of the Holyrdquo he adds Being an ardent collector he has maintained his tapes many of them imported by periodically cleaning them lubricating them and testing the sound ldquoDigital music is easily accessible but listening to cassettes is something elserdquo he notesPlaying memoriesGrowing up watching his elder siblings gather rock music tapes and his parents amass Indian classical music cassettes Malabar Hill resident Darshan Khatau longed for his own collection Khatau 50 shares that his collection which now runs into 1000odd tapes started taking shape in the mideighties when he was in grade eight or nine ldquoAt the time it was R100 for a cassette My first one was a medley of Simon amp Garfunkel and Dire Straitsrdquo Khatau remembers that as opposed to vinyl records which were cumbersome to carry or lend out cassettes if damaged could easily be fixed with tape ldquoIt was all the rage to have the latest American Top 40 list and relatives travelling abroad would get themrdquo While the same music is available on his phone now his cassettes stand for countless memories ldquoIrsquom a proud owner especially of Indian classical music tapes as thatrsquos not as well documented onlinerdquo he points out