An old Radio Friend, Parikh

A chain of events prior to 1984 had led me to the hobby of shortwave listening.  We had our vintage Bush Radio.  It was not long before I had found myself sending reports to Radio Korea [in Seoul] which was broadcasting in English, an hour every night. Its signal in the 31-metre band was inconsistent, yet I listened fairly regularly. Another thrill was to hear my name on the radio when my letter was mentioned in their 'Listeners Corner'!  Also, I sent in entries for their monthly quiz or essay competitions and won some prize or other. Little did I know this would lead to a great surprise.  A letter from them saying that I was chosen as their 'official monitor' had me very elated.

[Don't forget to click on photos to magnify]

The hobbies of 'shortwave radio listening' and penfriendship usually go hand in hand and are considered in many ways educative and healthy. Radio stations needed feedback from their audience across the world.  'Shortwave listeners' provide help in that while enjoying the hobby.  These people write and inform the stations about the radio signal, program content, suggestions, etc. To keep audience attracted, they sent stickers, pennants, calendars or little gift.  I too put my feet in this as I found it fully worthwhile. With my limited time for indoor hobbies, I was mostly content with Radio Korea and some penfriendship with a handful of people both in India and abroad [which eventually waned away]. Almost automatically, a network among the hobbyists forms as they have similar interests.

In 1985, Radio Korea had sent a list of monitors in India upon my request. In it was a certain Mr. Vasudev M. Parikh's name, in Bombay [now Mumbai]. The same year I was to go to Pune for a cricket coaching camp [10 days] after which I had planned to visit Bombay to meet a couple of relatives.  An opportunity of meeting him had opened itself.  I did not know anything else about him. So I wrote to him about my schedule and my keenness to meet.

At Pune, my relative was in the same campus as our camp.  So I had given his address to respond to.  I was in joy when my relative handed over Parikh's reply.  I was curious to know how young he was and had inquired a few basic information about him. This is what he wrote:

I had guessed him to be a young person but he was 65 year old seasoned veteran, esp. in the hobby!

He sent this photo taken during a radio club members meet in 1986, at his Nadiad home.

After an enjoyable camp, I traveled on my favourite 'Deccan Queen' train for Bombay and reached my relative's Andheri residence.  The following day, Mr. Parikh's clear directions helped me easily reach 'Jupiter' and climbed 13 floors [in the elevator!], in Colaba. On the way, I had visited my favourite Victoria Terminus [now renamed after Shivaji], the GPO and the streets around them.  I was excited to see the digital radio he used and talk about several things related to the hobby.  It was an engrossing one hour, learning about several new things. It was a friendship that was to continue till 2003.  We used to exchange letters frequently, some contents of which were about information on different radio stations' broadcasts.  His letters were neatly typewritten and full of information. We used a lot of post cards also. 

In 1986 also there was an opportunity to meet him again. But this time, in Hardwar, a sacred place for Hindus in North India! I was to go to Roorkee for cricket. Hardwar was very close and his annual stay coincided. He would go there with his wife for 10-15 days of relaxing.  Read his invite on the left.

My team mates, 2-3 of them, were surprised about my hobby outside cricket!  My third meeting with my wife happened to be the last, in 1989. 

Thereafter, only letters. He had also some access to e-mail when it was introduced, but there were only a couple of exchanges through this.

His e-mail.

He was using small address sticker labels in his correspondence. I wanted to have them too. So he had kindly helped me get a box of these. They were not available here at that time.

He was born on 12th May, 1920. His handwriting had slowly become very shaky, yet he managed to write a few  despite his physical weakness and weak eyes.  Probably he could no longer use the typewriter. But, promptly, he would wish me, my wife for our birthdays and usually on time.  He also never failed to inquire about our young children.

He would sometimes start the letter with 'dear radio friend'. And in another letter he wanted me to write him 'Dear Uncle'.  It is truly amazing how he was able to find time and energy in promptly writing to all his contacts with such long letters when he was younger!

The last mail I got from him was in 2003 in which he had expressed a rather low enthusiasm for life at 83.

[Magnified, read and feel]

He writes unhappily that "SWL is a dying hobby..."

Subsequently, I wrote a letter or two inquiring about his health, but never heard back.

His was a very renown name in the hobby, one as old as him is rare to find. I had planned to write an article about him in the late 90s for which he had sent some information. But my plan did not take off. Here are two sheets he had sent for this. Astounding achievements ever since he started listening in 1938 using a Crystaltone receiver as an 18-year old! The first radio station in the country was here in Mysore, 1936, but in Bombay, radio broadcasting had started a few years before that.

One of the persons who kept my zest in tact in the hobby was him.

 He would have been exactly 98 as I write this today, 12th May. 

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