Balaji’s Antiques on Avenue Road traces roots to 1924

A mini Dhara Pathra sits on DG Balaji’s desk at Balaji’s Antiques and Collectibles, among the objects packed into the family-run shop on Avenue Road.

Balaji says the business traces its roots to the Seethaphone Company, founded in 1924 by his grandfather, DN Seetharama Shetty. The original firm sold gramophones and vinyl records and, he says, still operates a few blocks from the antiques shop. It is now managed by Venkatesh Babu and focuses on modern art and vinyl.

Balaji’s Antiques and Collectibles opened in 1994 after Seethaphone decided not to deal in antiques. Its shelves and walls hold artefacts, paintings, bootha masks, Marapachi and Dasara dolls, and lithographs of gods and goddesses.

Balaji, 58, says the shop relies on contacts built over decades, rather than a formal research team, to find objects. He says the family also supplied props for David Lean’s 1984 film *A Passage to India*. According to Balaji, the production team bought rather than rented items including colonial furniture, old newspapers and vintage cars.

Balaji says heirlooms have become harder to acquire as more younger people hold on to family keepsakes.