The Cassette Dukani

I used to be very happy when my uncles visit us on my Birthday's and on Bihu and more so if they forget that its a special day; cuz thats when they would hand me over a Rs100 or so(in lieu of a gift)... to buy something i like... They would mostly expect me to eat that money out :) ...they always thought that the best way to spend the money is to have a nice platter...its in their genes. But though i fall into the same genetic line i always kept the money away for something else. The 100 bucks would get me 2 audio cassettes!!! Those days we use to have just three major companies which sold international music ( yeah boy, i was always a firangi ass kisser) - MagnaSound, MIL and HMV.

And it would be extremely difficult t

o find the right album, specially in a place like tezpur ( Assam)

So i was always in the mercy of the beetle leaf chewing cassette dukani ( Shopkeeper) to get me some good albums. But somehow he miraculously was able to choose some pretty good ones - Like the "The Very Best Of Eagles", "Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits", "Blaze of Glory - Jon Bon Jovi" and the likes. I mean i really got those albums from this cassette dukani and the irony is i don't even remember his name....

I didn't get to buy a lot of them , given my limited resources , in a year i would be buying around 2 or 3 at the max.... These 2 cassettes will travel all round the small sleepy town by the way of our effective barter system at School. There we few guys like me who too had this craze for the

international acts...and our prized possessions would find way to each others tape players.

Though their audio quality has faded over the years...some have even become useless i still attach a lot of emotional value to them so much so that few lucky ones have found their way to Banglaore now!!!

I keep them as souvenirs; just to remind me of those days where i had so less to listen and so much to enjoy. And now when i can get any damn music i want; i still don't seem to get the kicks i used to get back then.

The cassette shop is no longer there and what we have now is a rampant sale of cheap mp3 pirated CDs for as low as Rs10 a piece. Thats less than a candy bar....Kids now don't have to try too hard to save the money for an Album. Then there is the iPODs and the iTunes and the P2Ps and what not. We seem to get the music so easily!!!

Lets See.

The original MagnaSound cassette cover of the #1 Best Selling Album of the US "The Very Best Of Eagles"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

One of my prized collection.