KOCHI:When most youngsters make their mother’s birthday special by gifting them something ready-made Arvind Kumar Pai had an elaborate plan. He wanted to make his Mother’s birthday more than special by gifting her something different. The wish triggered a plan to collect Rs 10 notes which bore serial numbers which began with his mother’s date of birth. After painstaking efforts over the past three to four years he collected 1,004 Rs 10 notes from various parts of the state and gifted them to his mother.
The effort not only made his mother ecstatic but also earned him a spot in the India Book of Records.
“I already had four notes which had similar serial numbers back in 2012, that is when I decided to collect more notes with the same serial number. I travelled to some of the chest branches from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram to collect fresh Rs 10 notes. The currency which bears serial numbers 1125 were collected. My mother’s birthday falls on November 25. The American format of mm/dd/yy was followed here. An example for note serial number 11G 251958,” said Arvind.
Getting recognised by the India Book of Records is not new to Arvind. In 2013, he entered the Limca Book of Records for maximum number of stamps on a cover. “322 stamps priced between 2 paise and 5 paise were stuck on the cover which was sent to my mother for her birthday. 322 again is my date of birth, which falls on March 22,” he said. Both Arvind and his mother Renjitha Pai received the Limca Book of Records.
Arvind an avid stamp collector also holds the Asian Book of Records for the collecting the maximum number of Gandhian stamps. At the time of receiving the record he had a whopping collection of 8,000 stamps from 1948 to 2013 which has now grown to 10,000.
Arvind is also said to be the only Malayali whose name appears alongside Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi in the editors intro of 2015 India Book of Records. For, his love for stamps started as a hobby during his childhood, a phase spent struggling with epilepsy. The collection led to the record. An achievement that he dedicates to his father Muraleedhara Babu, whom he lost in 2012. Arvind who belongs to Cherthala is a personality development and spoken English trainer.