There was a
time, a time not too long ago in fact, that most towns (because back then, cities were
non-existent) had their go-to typewriter man – that shop that would either sell
and/or repair typewriters. However, in more modern times, when even the verb
‘to type’ is being replaced with the verb ‘to keyboard’, typewriter repair is
an endangered if not extinct trade. However, fortunately for some, nothing
compares to the sound of beating out a series of keys with Morse code-like
precision on an old-school typewriter keyboard. It is in that elite company
that we classify Erasmo Joao Coutinho.
To Erasmo, who is now
69 years of age, typewriter fixing is more of a hobby than a profession. For
the last 40 years since he has been a part of the family enterprise – Rosmos
Typwriters – Erasmo has been repairing typewriters. To this technician par
excellence, the age/brand of the machine makes no difference. He’ll prop up his
glasses on his nose, and using his minute tools, dig into the machine before
him; many twirls of spring hooks and many sways of wire brushes later, he’ll
have restored the typewriter to its formerly glorious form.
“I knew right from
the time that I was a child that I wanted to grow up to be a mechanic of some
sort. Working with automobiles was one option, and this was another. My
brother, Rosario, was already in the line of work, when this little shop opened
its doors in the late 1970s. I joined him in the trade, and after he passed
away in 1989, if my memory serves me well, I have soldiered on, on my own,”
Erasmo reminisces.
Set in Corte de
Oitero in Panjim, the bulk of Erasmo’s workspace at Rosmos Typewriters is a
graveyard of machines beyond repair. These are stored, and used for spares, as
and when needed. From ribbon spools to drawers loaded with other parts
including replacement draw-bands (the fabric strip that pulls the carriage).
After decades at the
bench, the job still satisfies and challenges him. “I never get tired of going
to work. It’s like a hobby for me even though now there are just 4-5 machines
to be fixed in a month. But it is what I know to do, and don’t see myself ever
doing anything else,” he says, with pride.
Old
typewriters inevitably need attention, but there can be no doubt about how well
they were made at the time. There can be no doubt that over the years, Erasmo
has probably seen the lot – E Remington and Sons, IBM, Imperial Typewriters,
Oliver Typewriter Company, Olivetti, Royal Typewriter Company, Smith Corona,
Underwood Typewriter Company, Adler Typewriter Company and Olympia Werke. Maybe
he hasn’t, but one can rest assured that if that machine is in need of some
TLC, then Erasmo is the man to go to, the veritable ‘typewriter whisperer’. And
while we constantly turn to the future for validation, and give up physical
products for virtual counterparts (think CDs and DVDs for streaming), nostalgia
may be driving many back to things of comfort. And there is much of that to be
found in the printed page, rolled straight off a typewriter, and that’s when
men like Erasmo shine.
