A play of numbers

Unique Hobbies

There are many people in the City, who collect currencies from across the world, be it coins or notes. However, unlike many others, Tarun Jain’s interest is not in foreign currencies but in Indian currencies with fancy series of numbers.

Tarun started collecting currencies with special number series from 1985. He was on a train from Mumbai when he read in the newspaper about another Tarun, who collects currencies with fancy series of numbers.

“I thought to myself — ‘if Tarun can do this, why can’t I?’,” says Tarun. He recollects that he was lucky to find a distinctive note just a day after the journey.

“I came back to Bangalore, and started spreading the word around. I told folks in my locality and garment shop, and they’ve been helping me ever since,” he recollects.

A few of the notes that were a part of Tarun’s first collection included 102030, 303030, 393939, in different denominations varying from rupee notes in 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100.

“Getting a series together is a slow process since these don’t just fall into your lap. When I find an interesting number, I keep it in one folder and move it to my currency album when I have a few of the same number series,” he explains. Tarun uses talcum powder to keep the notes fresh.

While Tarun was collecting simple series of currencies, a customer at his shop
suggested that he collect notes according to pin codes.

 “That’s when the idea of collecting pincodes of cities in the country came to me. Since then, I’ve collected pincodes from New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. I also have notes with pin codes of Bangalore starting from 560001,” details Tarun.

He adds with a smile showcasing one particular note, “This note is 560010, for Rajajinagar. This is my area’s pin code.”

He also adds that he just needs three more notes to complete his Bangalore
collection.

He also has a ‘radar’ collection which consists of numbers that are read the same way from the first digit to the sixth, and vice-versa.

 “Palindromes like 009900, 373373, 414414, 848848, 919919 are some of the numbers I have in this series,” says Tarun. He also has interesting series like 000420 and 420000.

The others are the ‘continuous’ series of 111111 till 999999, and other eye-catching series like 008008 in 10s, 50s and 100s.

While Tarun showcases the series, he also excitedly shows the ‘jumping’ series, which consist of numbers like 030303, 131313, 181818 and 343434.
 
Tarun says that he’s been lucky that he hasn’t had to spend anything on his
collection.

“People have been very generous to me. Since I started this hobby and started getting noticed for it, many people came and helped me out to expand my collection,” says Tarun.

“Most of the help came through word-of-mouth. They would come with notes to me, asking if I am interested and whether it can be included in my collection,.” he says.

“It also helps that I have a bank just opposite my shop. I’ve also been lucky as people have often gifted notes with fancy series of numbers to me,” he adds.

Tarun cares for his collection as he cares for his family.

He jokes, “These are my girlfriends. I pass my time with them and I enjoy each moment making this collection larger.” Even though Tarun cares for his hobby a lot, he loves to share it with the world.
“When people come home, I encourage people to touch and feel the notes, and see it for themselves,” he asserts.

He says he’s aware of the value his collection has, but doesn’t care about it.

“I do this out of passion. I believe that if I were to start calculating the value of my collection, then I wouldn’t be able to collect anymore as greed seeps in, and it would become a business,” sums up Tarun.