Cricket has many enthusiastic fans, who spend their valuable time while penning down the scorecards or paste cricketers’ photographs to decorate walls for making it a memorable collection and some even follow the dress code and blend of styles players have.
But we are here to talk about the passionate currency notes collector, who has spent around 10 lakh so far over his special collection – to entertain cricketers which is a terrific stuff to read on.
Ratilal Parmar, who came to watch the fourth Test between India and England at the Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium, is a unique cricket fan who became famous for collecting currency notes with specific numbers matching the birth dates and records of different cricketers, which includes celebrities and politicians as well.
“Collecting notes gives me immense satisfaction. I am just a matriculate who owns a small workshop, but my hobby has played a leading hand in overcoming all my obstacles,” Parmar said.
‘Adapt or perish’, the old adage, fits best while idolizing the cricketers across the globe which is not that easy.
The 61-year-old Parmar was also diagnosed with the cancer, but so far he has fought that hard while having a hobby of collecting different types of currency notes including those of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 , which became a direct hit of new revamping policies of Government of India.
Since his early days, Parmar had a treasure trove of rare currency notes at his disposal and he has that special reason for it to brag on.
Calling it a sense of responsibility, Parmar, who’s a resident of Morbi, Gujarat, recently met with England captain Alastair Cook to gift him a note which shows his birth date and he [Cook] was amazed to see such an effort from the man with such persistence while crossing all hurdles.
“When I gifted Cook the Rs 10 note, having the number of his date of birth, he was shocked. He was amazed that one could collect such a note,” Parmar added.
In 2008, during the India versus South Africa Test match at Ahmedabad’s Motera cricket ground, he [Parmar] gifted a 10 Rupees note to former legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar with the special numbers matching cricketer’s birth and the milestones he achieved during his illustrious career.
Given this, Parmar’s relentless effort has even surprised little-master Tendulkar which makes it pretty special moment for an impressive fan of cricket. He might also be known among cricketers as the glamorous Note Wala Chacha.
“My younger son and I went to handover a collection of notes to Sachin. He too was surprised as to how I could manage to get hold of a note which reflected his date of birth,” he said.
In 2009, when Parmar fractured his hand, the idea came to his mind which later on became a daily routine for him. In 2010, such became his passion that he stopped visiting his own steel manufacturing unit and asked his sons to look after that.
Fascinated by the idea, Parmar who’s making some difference at his age, had also gifted those special gifted notes to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Yes, it’s not easy exchanging or collecting these notes. Sometimes, I have to pay more for special notes, but then, this is my passion. I have notes with the birth date of many famous people. You come up with a name and I will show you the relevant note.” Parmar remarked.
Out of many, Parmar, who had something to boast about: as he has clicked some pictures with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ricky Ponting while gifting notes to them during the meet.
Waiting for a stroke of luck, the currency collector, who had received notes from different banks, is looking forward to gift such special notes to Virat Kohli-led side and members of the English team.
Off the ground, Parmar is measuring his popping crease while taking a guard as an interesting fan of cricket. If fans are following sport with such diligence, would numbers really matter in cricket?
It’s pretty simple what Virat Kohli is to Indian Team, a fan like Parmar is that to world cricket.