Story of Lifeline - The Radio

The radio was gifted on my birthday from three close friends sitting in different corners of India right now. They sent there love from Kerala, Mumbai and Banswara. Since then the radio was named 'Lifeline', connecting us, and we use pronoun her/she.

The vintage appearance makes her eye-catching. The beauty of assembling the pieces by the craft-person is amazingly done. The designing of her must have been a beautiful process, inspiration is so humane.

She fills there (friends) gaps and rejuvenates my morning with happy songs of chirping birds. The frequency knob with a red pin helps to set to different frequencies. Then the voice through speakers tested to max volume takes me to another world of classical music and meditative rhymes. The volume and AM/FM dials are smooth in functioning with a nice grip on the side circumference. The antenna is copper plated and the edges are filleted just like the human body. She stands at a scale of 6.5 out of 10 in terms of Dieter Rams’ principle.

She comes with the innovative technology of Bluetooth connectivity accompanied by AM/FM modes but lacks in a USB port. She serves the purpose of playing music and is aesthetically appealing as it is well made keeping a sense of well-being. Per se, a manual is not needed to understand her function. Unobtrusive functioning is there till now. Yes, the honesty of her material quality is questionable as it’s not made of walnut wood but is plastic which is not environmentally friendly. The criterion for her long-lasting is still to be checked as she is new to me. As a user experience, the last details of her are precise and accurate. She brings an example of little and simple design.

The story of her birth is unknown to me as the date of manufacturing and details of the designer is authentically unavailable due to duplicity/piracy. The seller of my piece is by Pagaria though. The beauty of her makes me preserve her in the cardboard box. It feels as if the packaging is done with care as well. Lifeline is light in weight and can stay awake for 6-8 hours, supported by a rechargeable battery.