Crazy and creative, passionate and positive, influential and introverted, happy and hopeful – the hobbyists find their pleasure within. They select and collect; craft and create; preserve and protect, and enjoy in their own mysterious world. ‘House of Hobbies’ was my effort to peep into the world of hobbyists in Nagpur. This series was published in The Hitavada in September-October 2010. Take a look...
Subhash Sharma : Houseful collection
SOME thirty-three years back, a school-boy stole a few old coins, kept carelessly in a tool-box of his friend’s radio repair shop. But the very next day, he went back, returned the coins, and confessed to the theft. “The coins had developed a feeling of guilt in my mind,” tells Subhash Sharma, whose friend eventually gifted the same coins to him for his honesty. “He kept silver coins and gifted me the copper ones. That day was a day of ecstasy in my life,” Sharma, whose search for the similar ‘day of ecstasy’ began with that very moment, he says.
Owner of an automobile reconditioning workshop near Shukravar Lake, Sharma has been collecting antique pieces, coins, historical belongings, brassware, watches, dials, locks, gramophones, stamps, stones, vintage equipment, arms, swords, pots, lanterns, knives, sculptures, historical notes, books, and what not – since the last three decades. “I am not bound to a particular theme. I just add, whatever appeals to me,” he said, while showing his collection, very neatly preserved and beautifully displayed in a personal museum on the
second floor of his bungalow in Dhantoli. “It comes from within. Your passion is enough to become your inspiration and motivation and encouragement,” claims Sharma, who speaks excellent Marathi.
Sharma’s collection has silver punch-marked coins of all 16 Janapadas (185 BC), swords probably of Maratha age, centuries-old locks, Tamrapatras (brass plate inscriptions), bhojpatras, and equipment of stone-age brought from excavation sites, he claims.
Other than professional sellers and numismatic societies - the common sources of coin collectors – Sharma has an additional and exciting source. “The Zarekari or Sonzari community people residing near rivers and water bodies dive deep and bring coins. The rivers with old forts around, like Paoni river near Nagpur, are full of such ancient coins. It’s a luck factor. You have to go there and find out,” the ‘lucky man’, who has found hundreds of coins from rivers till date, says.
It was his passion for history which inspired his wife Varsha to complete MA in Ancient History after marriage. She is now pursuing PhD on ‘Copper punch mark coins in India’. They have two school-going daughters, Mili and Sakshi, equally interested in history and collection. “Family support plays vital role,” accepts Sharma, a college drop-out, but an authority on ancient history after reading hundreds of books from all over the world. He can decode ancient scripts like Brahmi and others. However, he laments lack of awareness in India about our rich heritage. “James Prinsep, a British official deciphered Brahmi, the oldest Indian script, once termed ‘meaningless’ by our philologists,” he shares.
It’s a fantastic story of how a kid’s fascination for some old coins took the form of systematic study. Well, much more to come in future, as Subhash Sharma’s search for another ‘day of ecstasy’ continues.
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