Jody,

When I went to India for the second time last fortnight, I followed the
advice of our boss in India, and placed the following ad in the Times of
India, the largest circulation English language publication in India:

    "PIANOLAS - I am a collector and rebuilder of Pianolas, Player-pianos,
    and other mechanical musical instruments in the USA. I am interested
    in contacting persons with similar interests in India.  Please call
    Mr. Richard Vance, The Holiday Inn, 620-4444"

I received over 25 phone responses, but unfortunately, only 2 people
actually knew what I was talking about.  One from the Mistry family, an
extended clan of piano tuners and technicians (who I had met the last time I
was there, and believed to be the only techs in Mumbai), who offered to sell
me a gutted Weber upright.  The other was from a very classy Indo-European
woman who was interested in talking about pianos in general and her pre-war
Bechstein specifically.  She had seen MM in the Netherlands while visiting
her son there. She very kindly offered to ask around among the ex-Nabobs of
the old Princly States who congregate on Malibar Hill, and would be likely
to have preserved Raj era artifacts.  I hope this pans out, but I won't hold
my breath.  Most of the other responses were people who wanted to sell me an
old piano, (or a new smuggled one; pianos are sold that way because of the
100% luxury tax.)  One man thought I was a keyboardist, and asked me to join
a rock band!

 [ A portion of this letter has been removed for conciseness

In the land where arranged marriage is still common, the Times contains page
after page of serious and apparently ethical 'personals', carefully
categorized by region, caste, religion and even skin color; but one
category, gay, cannot be mentioned because of either law or the paper's
policy. I discovered quite accidentally that it is the convention for gay
people in India to put in ads containing some plausible but meaningless
request, with a phone number. I couldn't help them, but I did not so much
mind the misunderstanding; what annoyed me was that my well-meant add was
considered to meet the criterion of 'plausible nonsense' that the convention
requires.

I am so disappointed after 2 tries, one would have thought that among 7e8
[ 700,000,000 ] people, someone would have been bitten by our bug!!

The only evidence of MM in the country, heard everywhere, is in the back-up
alarms sold as truck and van accessories. These are essential in India,
where the streets are so crowded with people, that all vehicles are always
surrounded on all sides. These alarms are electronic speakers like modern
cop sirens, but are almost always driven by a chip that plays 'Jingle
Bells'! I assume that the maker that programmed chips for Crhistmas cards or
ornaments had an overstock.

I wonder if any of this is (except item 3) is worth a MMD submission; I hate
to report yet another failure.

Regards,
Richard

 [ I'm quite puzzled that no useful MM leads have turned up in Inda.  I think
 [ bringing it up from time to time is interesting and may eventually
 [ prove fruitful.  Thanks for writing about your trip.
 [
 [ Jody