The steep steps of an old building in South Mumbai lead to a remarkable discovery. Situated on the fourth floor of the building on the quaintly named Picket Road is the oldest surviving typewriter servicing shop in Mumbai. And its name, General Office Typewriters, is as no-nonsense as its owner, the septuagenarian Bejon Medon.
The look of the sign on the shop is as old as the machine it repairs, a clear indication of the amount of time the shop has survived in the business. As we enter the small space we see an elderly man sitting on his chair with a small wooden table in front of him.
The table has several files placed on it. A Godrej Prima typewriter, which is kept near the table, doesn’t fail to catch attention. Busy at work and barely looking up as you enter the shop, Bejon appears to be unaffected, both by his age and the inevitable demise of the machine he is currently trying to revive.
As Bejon continues to grapple with the keys of the typewriter before him, you realise that this is the oldest typewriter servicing shop in the city, and wonder where these machines are still coming from to be repaired; because the last time you had seen a machine like this was in some old film on TV.
Just then, Bejon looks up, and, as if reading your mind, says with a pleasant smile, “Some people get a brainwave about reviving their old typewriter, because it belongs to their dad or their grandfather. This is how these typewriters find a place in my workshop.” Standing in the centre of the near empty shop, it is hard to imagine that this place was a beehive of activity just a few decades ago.
The business was started by Bejon’s father-in-law in the mid-’60s, when working without typewriters was unthinkable. The company was established at Flora Fountain and moved to Picket Road. One day, Bejon, then working in a pharmacy which was his family business, was summoned by his father-in-law. ‘Come and help me, we’ve got lots of work,’ he told Bejon, who accepted the offer, and joined the business in 1976.
“The company had to face serious competition from other servicing shops during its inception. Every office in Bombay had typewriters, so we had a lot of work, lots of competition,” Bejon recalls. The company soon managed to find a place in the typewriter market and grew progressively in the coming years.
“There has not been a single instance where our mechanics were not able to figure out the problem,” he says proudly. Some of the major clients that General Office Typewriters catered to were Union Bank of India, New India Assurance and United India Insurance.
The company has also repaired many typewriters through private contracts. During this period, the workload was such that their workshop had a staff of 10-12 mechanics. Annual service contracts were signed with corporate companies or other enterprises which had dozens of typewriters in their workplace.
However, the onslaught of computers sounded the death knell for this beautiful machine two decades ago. So it is truly a miracle that Bejon still has work on hand. “The typewriters which are brought to the workshop these days have not been in use since 15-20 years. We hardly repair 4-5 typewriters - not in a single day but in a month.
Typewriter manufacturing companies have shut down. Some have even switched to computer manufacturing. In the old days, there were mechanics coming almost daily and applying for jobs. Now we have to look around and see if there's anyone left,” Bejon reveals. Many of the old typewriter mechanics are now no more.
Those who are familiar with the machines are above the age of 60. One of them is currently in the shop bent over a ‘Remington Noiseless Typewriter’. He joined the company four years ago. There are two other mechanics apart from him, and that is the entire staff of General Office Typewriters.
The computer is obviously a curse for Bejon, you tell him. He laughs, “It's nothing like that. I have a computer at home. We all use mobiles and other gadgets today,” he shrugs. Perhaps the reason behind the relaxed laughter is not just acceptance of the typewriter’s inevitable fate, but the fact that all hope is not lost yet.
For, believe it or not, there are places where typewriters are still being used - local courts, lawyers’ offices and other small institutions. Bejon is currently working on three typewriters used by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. And who knows, the sturdy old machines might just come back in demand, may be as passing a fad, or through people who love everything vintage.
Don’t forget, the state government of Maharashtra has decided to continue running its typing institutes in small towns and villages. Bejon certainly has his fingers crossed.
