Basantlal, a resident of the Chandausi subdivision of Uttar Pradeshs Moradabad District, is a popular man these days, because of his unusual hobby of collecting currency notes that have significant numbers printed on them.
By Vibhav Porov
Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh), Aug.10 : Basantlal, a resident of the Chandausi subdivision of Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad District, is a popular man these days, because of his unusual hobby of collecting currency notes that have significant numbers printed on them.
A textile merchant by profession, Basantlal, 40, started a collection of such Indian rupees that had serial numbers matching some important date related to a notable personality or event.
Basantlal says: "My hobby is to collect the notes of Indian rupees in which the number of the note matches with the date of birth or day of death or any good or bad incidents that may have occurred on any particular date. I also collect notes concerning a number of prominent people from abroad besides Indian personalities."
It could be any celebrity's date of birth, date of achievement or even the date of some important person's demise. Basantlal just enjoys keeping a record to remind himself about the importance of that particular day or date.
His collection includes notes bearing serial numbers identical to the day when Aishwarya Rai was crowned Miss World. He also possesses a currency note that is numbered with the date of spiritual Guru Sai Baba's Samadhi (conscious departure from the physical body at death).
Basantlal claims to have collected Indian currency notes worth around rupees 25,000!
He spends his idle time in scanning the numbers of currency notes and cross checking their serial numbers to ascertain whether they relate to any important day of some famous personality's life.
Basantlal says: "Till date, I have collected about twenty five to thirty thousand rupees of notes which tally with the numbers related to the renowned personality."
Neelam, Basantlal's wife, takes pride in her husband's hobby, since it has brought her respect. She, however, regrets that this time consuming hobby is carried on at the family's expense.
She says: "At times when he goes for some work, he just gets involved talking to others about his collection."
Basantlal's family and friends now want to see his name registered in the Limca Book of World Records (the Indian version of Guinness Book of World Records) for his hobby and collection.
ANI