A unique gift for Tendulkar

There are Sachin Tendulkar fans and then there is Ratilal Parmar, who has spent a fortune collecting currency notes having numbers associated with the numerous landmarks littered across Tendulkar's career. Parmar's latest acquisition is a ten-rupee note bearing the number 240412, the date of Tendulkar's 39th birthday.

"I wanted to do something different. That is why I started collecting currency notes that match his records and important dates. I have kept track of his entire career this way," Parmar, 56, told Mid-Day from Morbi, a town in Gujarat, India.

Despite going to great lengths to accumulate his treasure, Parmar has met Tendulkar only once, during the Ahmedabad Test of 2010 against New Zealand. Parmar's desire now is to gift the unique collection to Tendulkar, of course, during a personal meeting. "I want to present Sachin with the notes associated with his milestones, especially the 100th international ton [Parmar has a note numbered 160312 which is the date when Tendulkar reached the record against Bangladesh in Dhaka].

Parmar has had to put a lot of money where his heart is. "This isn't easy to do. I must have spent nearly Rs 10 lakh [one million] to collect these notes," Parmar said. "I knew some people in banks and they would help me find notes matching a particular event. At times, I would have to plead with them." Now who said being a fan involved only emotional investment?