32-year old Ebin Baby of Vazhithala in Idukki is in a Catch-22 situation with the Centre’s sudden move to demonetize Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes. For the past 18 years, he has been collecting currency notes that bear a number ending with ‘786’.
Beginning when he was in college, Ebin now a teacher in Hyderabad holds on to the firm belief that the number ‘786’ brings him luck. He also wants to take a shot at getting a Guinness world record for possessing maximum number of currency notes ending with the number ‘786’.
At present, Ebin has 80 five-hundred-rupee notes and 30 thousand-rupee notes along with several hundred, fifty and ten rupee notes ending with his ‘lucky’ number.
“I have had many experiences to reaffirm my belief that currency notes ending with the said number bring me luck. Having these notes in my possession actually gives a boost to my confidence. But my ultimate aim was to take a go at getting a Guinness world record for the largest collection in this category,” he smiles, while speaking to The News Minute.
“I have almost a lakh of rupees in my collection, in which Rs 70,000 comprises only 500 and 1000 rupee notes,” he shares.
Ebin is yet to decide on whether to retain these notes, or to exchange them for the new ones being issued by RBI.
“I took a lot of pain to collect these. Parting with them is not going to be easy. I am confused about what I should do next,” he says.
“If I do not exchange these, I stand to lose not only a lot of money, as these no longer have any monetary value, but I will also not be able to achieve my aim of getting into the Guinness Book. But neither can I part with them so easily,” he rues.