Coins & Nostalgia! :)

Dusting and cleaning the house is not exactly what we call interesting, but thanks to the misery due to the boring endless holidays, I did find it interesting! Well, the interesting part was when I found a long lost box of foreign coins! :D For a fervent coin collector like me, it’s a real joy. For it’s not just a box of coins but Pandora’s Box of memories! :D The coins were from all over the world, with a few of them no longer in use. If you are or were a coin collector, then you will relate with this.

For instance, the coins issued by the Indonesian government sometime in 2003 was something like Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s currency scheme. The government took up an infamous scheme of saving metals and bringing out a currency system in which the coins were minted out in aluminium. The result? Coins were minted in every street in addition to the government mints in Indonesia and to put a stop, the government had to take back all the real and the fake coins and declare them invalid after a period. So I guess, my 100 Rupiah coin isn’t actually valid anymore. Gosh, people just don’t learn from history! :D :P But either way, with the Indonesian Rupiah valued at 0.000111 U.S. dollars, doesn’t really make much difference! :P

Then I look at the 100 naira note. Its one of the very few currency notes in my possession. But the story behind the note is very, lets say, innovative. Well, I was about 10 years old then. A new neighbour had invited us for the navarathri golu and I ventured there to have a look at the neighbours. :P what I didn’t expect was the “new uncle”. He had heard me practice and wanted to hear me sing. I refused to oblige, for they were new people. But then he offered me two 100 naira notes in exchange for a voice sample. When did bribe not ever work??? :D Well, this was foreign exchange, so he got his classical song and I got my 200 naira with the sundal! :D :P a fair trade in my opinion, what say?? ;)

Though my collection was from various countries, the dominant part was European and Australian. And a lot of Middle East coins. These were either collected from uncles who had worked there or were handed down by older cousins who had lost interest. :) :) Looking at my collection, I was quite proud. Not bad, not bad at all, I told myself. They weren’t just coins, they were parts of the countries where they were minted in, a part of world history, a part of my childhood and will be a part of my legacy! :) :)