Photo Credits belong to my friend Benedict Benjamin who took this photo on February 21, 2008. Subject is an Electronics Shop at Regal Chowk, Karachi.
I chose this photo because it captures a live snap of a Pakistani street. There are people busy in discussion inside the shop. The person sitting outside the shop looks bored and then there is an over-exposed perception of motion and life passing by in the form of a blurry motor-cycle.
Either the time has passed by this business or more likely they haven’t repainted the signboard in decades. The title is ‘Modern Radio Service’ but they are still dealing in ‘Electronic Tubes’; an item which has gone out of fashion for many years now. Reminds me of a Urdu misra “waqt kha gaya aasmaan kaise kaise”. But then there is also a chance there is a niche collectibles or antique market for electronic tubes. wallah-ul-aalam.
This shop looks like it is a leftover from the Glorious days of the Radio.
I recall my childhood when we had a fairly large GRUNDIG radio in the house with an awesome wooden exterior. Insides were all tubes and valves. My father would tune into BBC and other radio stations to listen to the news…and during the day my mother would tune on to Radio Pakistan’s daily Commercial service.
And then…..”Video killed the Radio Star…”
Actually, cathode ray tubes are still found in the better guitar amplifiers… pros prefer them to transistor electronics, because they don’t sound digital and are supposed to respond better to the touch, resulting in a more “human” sound… a good tube amp can go for several thousand dollars… even the better solid-state amps don’t cost that much…
This is not to suggest that the store in the picture does guitar amps, but hey, you never know…
Well,
One can find a lot of shops of this type(selling outdated stuff) in Saddar and old city areas. What I think is they are just opening these shops for the sake of possesion of property. The above mentioned shop is on Main Regal Chowk and the place worth millions.Perhaps the owner is waiting for a multi billion deal :):) who knows.
Very interesting twist on the word “MODERN” and what it means in this picture.
Why was the phone number blacked -out? Privacy reasons?