Throwback Friday (5 things - Week 74)

The actual modern day slang for the idea I’m going for is “Throwback Thursday”, but since we are doing this on a Friday, we’ll make do with “Throwback Friday”. I guess the only reason why they call it Throwback Thursday is to get two words starting with ‘T’ together.

Well, the idea or concept behind this “Throwback Thursday” is for people to reminiscence something from the past. If you had to instruct your friend on what to do for observing “Throwback Thursday”, you would tell them something like this -

“Look back into your past – your childhood, your teenage years, your youth – and tell us something you miss having right now.”

Ask any person with memory, and they’ll give you a long list of such things. And if you had asked me, I would have an even longer list, split categorically. One such category is the “Retro List” – the list of items that I loved to use then, but which are obsolete now.

You want examples?? How about that special kind of pencil, which had lead on little bullet-like things with an eraser on its cap?? After using the current bullet, you had to take it out and insert it at the bottom of the pencil to have a new bullet to use. A brilliant apparatus, which kept most of us primary school-ers, enthralled through our classes.

You want more examples?? How about disk cassettes?? Long gone are the days when we used them. The temple in front of my house is celebrating “Vinayaka Chathurthi” today. And I saw them using a DVD player to play the devotional songs. Such is the reach of modern technology into one of the most ancient institution in our land.

What I remember most about the Cassettes was the thrill and pain of hearing your new favourite song again and again. There was no “repeat current song” option. After you heard the song once, you had to press rewind for the correct amount of time so that the disk is returned back to the starting portion of the song you want to hear. Those were the days when you had to work to show your desire to hear a song repeatedly.

I’ve one more example – the floppy disk – all 12079600 bits of 1s and 0s of it. That’s 1.44MiB by the way – not enough for you to store even one digital picture that you take from a modern camera. And I used to love them – with their snapping heads, and ability to transport data – both concepts beyond my grasp then. The “then” I mention is before this millennia. And by the turn of the new millennia, I was turning the useless floppy disks into pen stands by gluing together five of them to make a box.

All this brings us to the topic of this week’s musing.

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I’ll let you in on a plan of mine. People normally plan for their kids to get rich. They buy land, gold, or get LIC plans to make sure that their kids have money at the right time. I’ve planned two generations further. The coin collection of mine is how I intend to make my great grandkids super rich. :D ;)

At around the same time I was using those things I listed above, I started a hobby. I started collecting coins. Not the foreign ones to show off in front of my friends. That was only because I had no source for foreign coins.

But I had plenty of opportunity to collect the coins distributed by our Government, and this week’s 5 things are the five most significant coins in this collection of mine.

Let’s start, shall we??

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1. One rupee note

I have no way of knowing the age of this note. One speciality of this note is that it’s not signed by the RBI Governor, but by the Secretary, Ministry of Finance. (open the image in a new tab, enlarge and check for yourself)

2. 5 paise coin

Yes, we once had coins for 5 paise. And yes, we had square coins.

3. 10 paise coin

I guess the 10 paise coin was developed by someone who appreciated curves. ;)

4. 20 paise coin

We still haven't reached the usual circular shape yet. This 20 paise coin is of hexagonal shape.

5. 25 paise coin

Finally, we arrive at the circular shape. A 25 paise coin.

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All these coins are of no value in legal tendering in India. This article in the RBI site states that,

"Coins in India are presently being issued in denominations of 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees. Coins up to 50 paise are called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'. Coins in the denomination of 1 paise, 2 paise, 3 paise, 5 paise, 10 paise, 20 paise and 25 paise have been withdrawn from circulation with effect from June 30, 2011 and are, therefore, no more legal tender."

But with time, I believe that these coins will gain value as artifacts from a past era. And that's how my great grandkids are going to get rich. ;) :D

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None of the above five specimen is the most interesting one in my collection. That honour goes to the following 50 paise coin – minted in 1974. This is the fourth decade of its existence. Just think about that. It’s older than most of us.

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So, that's all for this week then.

Have a great weekend!!

'til next week.