his portable HMV 101 gramophone model was made in 1927 and was originally introduced with the winding handle on the front. Such a model also comes with the HMV 410 motor. Almost all the varieties of gramophone are available in India, even the bases come in circular shapes rather than the usual square bases.

Victor Talking Machine Company whom Berliner gave its patents to, were the first to sell the gramophone and the records with the logo consisting of “His Master’s Voice” (HMV) derived from the famous Barruad’s painting. The portrait became such a success that it was widely publicized and was officially released in India in the year 1915 making its first appearance on the record labels. In Britain it appeared in 1909.

One Mrs. Clara Rahm, a German born, from the Dickens family, a resident of Yercaud in the mid 1900s, left this gramophone in the custody of Mr. Reid who lived in the Clifton House owned by Victor C. H. Tate. I am told that the gramophone once was in the possession of the family of Mr. Leonard Rosario and Mr. Reid is said to have seen the purchase bill of the Spencer’s company in the Madras Presidency.

This windup gramophone came with English Country song records and is exhibited at INDeco’s Lake Forest Hotel in Yercaud. Recording of the first Indian artists in London in 1899 was by Dr. Harnamdas and Mr. Ahemad for the Ramayan and the Aayats from the Koran. We have some of the originals in The STEVE BORGIA INDIAN HERITAGE MUSEUM at INDeco Hotels Swamimalai. The first recordings of F. W. Gaisberg were in Calcutta in 1902 and were made of glass, later zinc, and

eventually plastic. A spiral groove with sound information was etched into the flat record. The record was rotated on the gramophone. The "arm" of the gramophone held a needle that read the grooves in the record by vibration and transmitted the information to the gramophone conical speaker