HOBBY. A man without a hobby is an incomplete person. Over the years i have enjoyed collecting coins, notes, cigarette cards, picture postcards, old tram tickets, old books, miniature playing cards, match box labels, lux and singer rectangular cards, old girlie booklets of the fifties, comics of the golden, silver and bronze era and many more things....haphazardly. Whenever i feel low and depressed, i dive deep into anything that i collected ever since i was say 15 or 16. Paucity of funds has been my constant companion.....first when i was not earning and always towards my mom for some increase in my allowance. Things became tougher since i started going to the races with my uncle ( fathers younger brother ). I ran errands for him at the racecourse in the hope that he would tip me a 50 rupee note ...which he often did. If i went to chor bazaar on monday, it would mean that i was in funds and that i wanted to buy some coins from the little extra i had. Nobody offered me credit facility and THAT WAS THE GREATEST BOON THAT GOD GRANTED ON ME. Till date i have never ever gambled in credit. ...ONLY CASH. Then i started earning by dabbling in shares, gambling at the races and trading in coins. Writing articles also brought in a gentle trickle of money. Words flowed on my cranky old underwood typewriter and i wrote article after article in various papers and periodicals. When i was navjoted at the age of 9, my maternal uncle gifted me with a 5 tola gold coin with 999 purity. This is equal to 58.35 grams. Needless to ask mom had kept the 5 tola coin in her cupboard. You cant expect a 9 year old kid to be given custody of this coin. When i was almost 21, it struck me that if i sold this coin i would have decent funds to get along with my myriad hobbies. So, i pestered my momto let me have that coin so that i could sell it and make a base from where i could take off. At first mom was adamant and simply refused to part with it . .out of sheer fear that i would gamble with the money and lose it. Then one day she came over to me and asked me to go with her to Revankar jewellers to sell the coin...but not before she took a promise from me on our sacred avesta that i would not use the money for wagering purpose. I put my hand on the avesta and kept my promise. I remember mum getting rs 15,500 for the coin. Back home she gave me the money and told me to use it wisely and well. Thus started my journey in true sense with the capital given to me by mom after selling her brothers coin. I then went from strength to strength to strength and started earning on my own. Mum was happy but dad was not. I was paying no attention to studies but was going thru various numismatic books....and the result was failing in all subjects in CA. That did not bother me at all. To hell with all the crap i told my mom. She smiled as she was clairvoyantly sanguine of my assured success in another field totally alien to commerce. Dad, on this topic, remain disgruntled for many years. Many years later i went over to mom who was reading her favourite charles dickens and asked her why all of a sudden she had agreed to sell the coin. Pat came the reply. TO STOP YOU FROM STEALING THE MONEY FROM MY CUPBOARD OR FOR THAT MATTER FROM DADS CUPBOARD. Her answer took my breath away. I simply spluttered and was short of words. You think i would have stolen .....i just managed to blurt out. Ofcourse you would have....said mom. Don t you remember stealing 2, 4 or 8 annas from my cupboard, time and again in 5 th standard in school. But that was in school mom because dad never gave me any money and i wanted some to eat something other than the normal house cooked food. EXACTLY. History would have repeated itself....because even today you are starved of money....which is precisely why i sold that coin and gave you the money. Rointon stealing money is in your genes and i did not want you to go back to what you did in 5th standard. STAND ON YOUR OWN FEET AND DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. I breathed hard and i breathed deep. I had no answer for what mom had said. For a few days i was not my normal self but mom was just the same. I felt hurt, irritated and immensely embarassed all at the same time. Then one day when i had bought a decent collection and was going thru the coins, mom entered my room for some work. I asked her to sit down. She sat. I thanked her for the money and asked her again ...do you really think i would have stolen .....a word is enough to the wise .....she said. Concentrate on your coins and waste not your time on a subject that NOW doesnt concern you. And dear if you miss out on a purchase for a few thousands rupees, remember i am always there. Years down the line i was going great guns both in my hobbies and at the share bazaar. Mom was extremely pleased with my progress. She passed away 12 years back. There is not a single day that passes when i do not remember her. Every time i sit with any of my collection, i murmur ....a silent murmur...any oxymoron.....thank you mom dear for bringing a wayward child who would have gone haywire, back on the path of being a true and proper gentleman
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:46:38 +0000
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