His collection is on record

Vinyl was dead, erased from stores and homes to be replaced by tapes, CDs and finally went digital. In the late 2000s, however, vinyl saw a resurgence finding space with collectors, who valued the aesthetics and performance and M Purushothaman is one such. The retired Reserve Bank of India (RBI) employee is a music buff. “I enjoy everything from Blues and Country to pop and Indian classical music.”

Purushothaman transitioned from listening to music on vinyl to cassettes and then CD. “When the switch to digital happened, I decided not to venture down that path. I started collecting vinyl records.”

Describing himself as a blue-blooded Bangalorean, Purushothaman graduated from St Joseph’s College in 1969. A walk through his home in Indiranagar reveals his passion for music, with the first floor transformed into a music studio. Purushothaman designed the house, which is a reflection of the past kept alive in the present.

While LPs occupy the main room of this floor, the small bedroom is converted into a museum housing rare and vintage cassette players, tape decks, and walkmans including Nachamichi and Techniques players.

Purushothaman says he travelled to Colombo to buy the Techniques player. He is one of few to own Wharfedale speakers. “They suddenly went off the market. I wanted it and so got it.” Purushotaman uses all the speakers (a collection of 10) to listen to music.

“These are Japanese makes and I have had them for almost 20 years,” Purushothaman says, pointing at a stereo system connected to a tape recorder. Amazingly, every piece of equipment is in working condition as Purushothaman shows by playing music on almost every machine. We listen to Bob Marley on the tape deck and head back to the vinyl section.

“It has taken me years to collect these and it is also a huge investment.” Purushothaman has more than 1,500 vinyl plates, over 600 cassettes, and 800 CDs, all of which are in playable condition. “Cassettes are mainly pop, and I have Indian classical to jazz, rock and country music on vinyl.”

Purushothaman says his passion for music was instilled in him while he was in college. “I would cycle around Bengaluru and those days we had jukeboxes. I would use a 25 paise coin to listen to music and then head to the next jukebox to listen to another genre of music.”

He credits a colleague at RBI for turning him into a collector. When Purushothaman plays a Phil Collins’ record, connecting the player to a valve amplifier, it breaks the myth of the woofer and base not being powerful in vintage speakers.

It took Purushothaman more than five years to adjust to the transition from records to tape. “There was no other go as records had stopped coming out. Then I started collecting cassettes. When tapes gave way to CDs, I decided to collect vinyl.”

His vinyl collection includes The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Bee Gees, Bob Marley, Cliff Richard & Shadows, Demi Roussos, Dire Straits, Eagles, Harry Belafonte, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond, Queen, James Brown, The Police and Whitney Houston. “Country music is my favourite with Don Williams, Johnny Cash topping my list.”

Apart from music, Purushothaman also collects magazines, including the complete collection of National Geographic from 1960 to 2000. “I still read them, though my grandchildren do not.” Purushothaman donated his collection of back issues of Reader’s Digest to a few schools a couple of years ago.

Purushothaman opens his house to vinyl fans. “The only condition is we should have common friends as they will be coming into my home.” Not associated with any group, Purushothaman calls himself an independent collector.

While vinyl is back with bang, Purushothaman tells new vinyl fans, not to buy one or two plates and then lose interest. “Invest in vinyl only if you are truly passionate about it.”

Rather than buying vinyl online, Purushothaman recommends buying from genuine sources spread across the city. He shows us a vinyl that just arrived. “I sourced this 1985 record from Japan,” he says as he carefully places it into his shelf.