Old cameras, worn-out typewriters, vintage radios, and matchboxes once used to light illicit cigarettes — stepping into Aditya Vij’s New Delhi home feels like entering a portal to another time.

In a world driven by fast-changing technology and artificial intelligence, Vij has turned his house into a living museum, each corner telling a story from history. An anthropologist by profession and a passionate collector by heart, he has spent decades gathering thousands of artifacts, many centuries old, carefully documenting their historical context and cultural relevance.

For Vij, every item he rescues feels like a personal triumph over time’s erasure. “The greatest joy I feel is knowing I’ve managed to save a fragment of history,” he said, speaking from a room filled with vintage cameras and gramophones.

The Thrill of the Search
Among the oldest objects in his collection are fossilized remains of fish, snails, tadpoles, and plants — millions of years old. But what he’s most obsessed with are matchboxes. His fascination with them started when he was just eight years old, after spotting one on a walk with his father. Today, at 51, he owns over 22,000 of them.

Some of these matchboxes date back more than 100 years and feature illustrations reflecting religious themes and political climates from their time.

“It’s not just about owning these pieces — it’s the excitement of tracking them down that keeps me going,” Vij explained. He believes matchboxes, though small, carry rich cultural and historical narratives.

Saving History, One Object at a Time
Sometimes, his acquisitions happen purely by chance. Once, he noticed a scrap dealer about to smash an old radio. He rushed across the street and intervened just in time. The dealer planned to sell the radio for parts, but Vij persuaded him to sell it intact. That radio now sits proudly among his other artifacts.

“Thirty seconds later and it would’ve been gone. Sometimes, all it takes is being alert and acting fast,” he said.

Vij sees his mission as connecting past innovations to the future. He hopes to one day turn his home into a public museum, where young people can learn about bygone eras through the very tools and objects that shaped daily life.

Without such efforts, he warns, these simple but meaningful items risk being forgotten forever amid the tide of modern technology.

“What once was commonplace is now rare, fading into nostalgia and memory,” he reflected.

Teaching the Next Generation
Vij frequently receives requests from parents eager for their children to see how things once worked — from typewriters and film cameras to rotary phones, pressing irons, and lanterns.

When children tell him they had never seen or heard of these objects before, it deepens his sense of urgency. “That’s when I realize how vital it is to preserve and share history,” he said.

With technology advancing at breakneck speed, many items from Vij’s youth have disappeared in just a few decades. He believes that curating and archiving them is crucial.

“I hope future generations come to value history — and play a role in keeping it alive,” he said.