The typewriter trader who still has customers galore for these antiquities

Meet the man who might give India its first ever typewriter meuseum

Selling typewriters for the past 45 years from the counters of the Universal Typewriter Company in New Delhi’s Kamla Market is surely a feat that the third-generation typewriter trader Rajesh Palta wears with pride. He sits in his tiny hole in the wall shop, sending mails to prospective clients or responding to queries from buyers from across the country. “Give me two minutes,” he says and gets going with his business.

His shop is old but standing tall. It is hard to believe that it could be a home to ageless antiques like typewriters. A look around will get you face to face with typewriters stacked up on shelves, with or without covers, just like the files stacked below them.

Photo: Sneha Bhattacharjee

 “Before I begin talking about my journey or the history of typewriters, let me tell you that am quite intrigued by the number of youngsters looking out for typewriters,” says an enthusiastic Palta after sending his response to an email query. “Some ask for their creative use, some use it as props, some want to even shoot with it. Some want to use it for training purpose in their typing institute. I enjoy the conversation with them,” he adds. And, why wouldn’t he? 

Photo: Sneha Bhattacharjee

Palta narrates the journey of his family and that of the typewriter like oral history. “The first commercial typewriter was invented in 1884 in the US by the Remington brothers and June 23rd is called the International Typewriter Day, that’s the day some 150 years ago, the first typewriter patent was awarded. In 1910, typewriters came into the Indian subcontinent,” says Palta adding how in 1912, his grandfather joined the company Remington in Lahore as a sales manager. “He was in-charge of India, Afghanistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma and in 1937, my father established the name Universal Typewriter Company in Lahore,” he says. 

After a good run for over a decade in Lahore, the journey of the Paltas to Mumbai (then Bombay), is like other stories of Partition-hit families. Tough and challenging but the satisfaction of having the family by your side -- priceless. “With four typewriters, he moved to Bombay and started the shop from a tablespace in the office of a friend. Today, my 82-year-old brother is running it in whatever capacity he can,” says the youngest of the siblings. 

The Universal Typewriter Company in Delhi was started in 1956 when Palta’s father received it from the government in lieu of the property they lost in Lahore. “My father had opted for a commercial property and that’s how this came into being,” he says with a childlike glee, “you are sitting in the oldest typewriter shop of the country”. 

Until about a decade ago, Palta would sell those machines that were so degraded that they could not be fixed, to scrap dealers. But after his children introduced him to the world of internet and showed him how these vintage machines fetch a good price in the international markets, Palta realised he needed to keep his ‘antiques’ close to his heart. “Today, I have over 300 typewriters with me. Of these, I will be putting up 80 for display in the museum that I plan to set up in this very shop in the next few months,” says Palta. 

Photo: Sneha Bhattacharjee

He not only repairs those machines and keeps them for his museum, but also repaints and sells them to prospective buyers. However, terms and conditions apply here. “I usually do not sell a machine if I don’t have another piece of the same model,” he adds. 

A clientele that spans the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Palta is happy that there is demand for typewriters even in this day and age. “Digital detox is one reason why young people are turning towards typewriters because there is no distraction,” says Palta on the rising interest in typewriters among youngsters.

Photo: Sneha Bhattacharjee

However, there is one thought that always lurks in his mind. “If I don’t sell, how will I pay my staff. I am worried about what will happen once the orders stop coming. What will they do? They haven’t done anything else in their lives except repairing typewriters,” says Palta pointing at a 38-year-old staff-member who has been working with them since he was 20. The, challenge of sourcing spare parts to repair a typewriter is more than actually sourcing a typewriter. How does he manage? “We make our own spare parts using metal sheets,” says he. 

 

As Palta continues to sell typewriters for as low as Rs 5,000 to as high as Rs 45,000, he is patiently waiting for his designer son to come and work on the layout of the museum at his shop. It is as if the future of this vintage classic rests in his hands. And, he is in no mood to let go of it.