Thanjavur: Lovers gift old currencies as Valentine's Day roses

Thanjavur: If the Central government thought the recent demonetisation of two high value currencies was a punitive price to pay for tax dodgers, St Valentine’s Day – falling on February 14 every year- to commemorate two early patron of lovers, has unwittingly come as a charming balm.

In Tamil Nadu in particular, from the classical ‘Sangam’ period till today’s digital and computer era, love and chivalry have gone down as two sides of the same coin and Tamil literature if full of it.  

In modern times, Valentine’s Day highlights this tender feeling, perhaps the essence of life. While birds, insects, clouds, flowers were the earliest believed Hermes taking soulful, romantic messages to lovers across gender, currencies are also now being used to express a person’s love to his/her beloved.

Some years back, a Tamil film starring Tamanna, ‘JJ’, even wove a love plot around airy nothings scribbled on a currency note, hoping it would reach the right person to whom it was intended after a ‘Bharat darshan’.

A Thanjvur-based doctor has on the eve of Valentine’s Day this year disclosed even newer manifestations of this not so conventional trend. Dr Jayakar Pandian, who came across Rs 100 notes with the love symbol ‘of heart and wordings I love you’ on its white space some 15 to 20 years back, had started collecting such prize notes as hobby.

Interestingly, he has been able to collect more number of such currency notes. “I have 63 notes which carry love message in my possession. They include Rs 500 old notes, which were demonetised recently; the youth have used all denominations for love graffiti. I have with me three Rs 20 notes, two Rs 50 notes, seven Rs 100 notes, two Rs 500 notes. I thought of sharing this news with your Newspaper (DC) on Valentine’s Day eve,” said Jayakar Pandian.

Belonging to the famous Abraham Pandithar family (Abraham Pandithar was a Tamil scholar, musician and medical practitioner), Jayakar Pandian has other hobbies too like gardening.

The sprawling garden at his house has many unique plants, particualarly cactoids. Did not the poet say, “there are no roses without thorns?”