Not a mug's game

Rohan Chacko, it would seem, has the world in his mugs. His repertoire of mugs is diverse, having been picked up from several countries. This third-year commerce student from CMR College has managed to accumulate quite a collection.

Rohan’s first mug was a bit of a disappointment, though. It was gifted to him by his mother Shubha Chacko when he was barely ten years old. The mug had a United Nations symbol inscribed on it. Shubha had travelled to the United States and bought her son the mug. The boy was, at first, quite disappointed that he had got a mug as a gift but later, somebody else also gifted him a mug — this time from Spain.

He was getting several mugs as gifts and suddenly, this young man began asking people who travelled overseas to get him more. Soon, his collection grew and ten years down the line, he boasts of 30 or more mugs from different countries.

 The only mug Rohan has ever used was the first one. Later he began preserving the rest of them as a hobby. He has converted his grandmother’s old spice box to showcase his mugs and has also got a shelf custom-made to display his prized possessions.

“I intend to get a shelf made on the wall, right across the living room, to place my ever-growing collection of mugs. I am asked a lot of questions by people who come visiting and my friends are curious about my collection of mugs too. The fact that they are from different countries makes this hobby special and exciting,” Rohan tells Metrolife.
Rohan has mugs gifted to him from Turkey, France, Singapore, Japan, China, Korea, Morocco, Vietnam, the United States, France, Switzerland and the UAE to mention a few countries.

“Each mug is unique because it has the design or inscription of something related to the country it is from. For instance, the one from the United Nations has the UN symbol on it and the one from Spain has a bull fighter. A mug I got from the Philippines has the symbol of the tricycle on it,” explains Rohan.    

Shubha takes a keen interest in helping her son develop his collection of mugs. “What’s interesting is that most of the time, these mugs invariably become conversation pieces with those who come home. Apart from the first one, we’ve never used any of the mugs. They are special to both of us,” notes Shubha.

Rohan collects interesting information about the countries from where he gets his mugs. “I collect bits and pieces of information about the countries where the I get the mugs from. It’s important to know something about the country from which each mug comes,” he says. He hopes to add to his collection and says he’s fortunate to have family and friends who very generously pick up a mug or two for him whenever they travel overseas. Rohan hopes to pursue his MBA soon after.