The other side of the coin

Unique hobbies

It’s rare to find someone who is completely dedicated to one hobby in these busy times. But here’s a man who is devoted to as many as four or five hobbies. Shamshuddin Kaleemulla, a professional at Thomson Reuters, dedicates all his free time to a host of hobbies like egg carving, glass carving, collecting coins and making products out of waste. The latest hobby to join this ‘bandwagon’ is painting on coins.

A coin collector for the last 15 years, Shamshuddin decided to give his coins a new and colourful twist by painting on them. Much to his delight, it worked wonders! “Though collecting coins is a fascinating hobby, it tends to get a little dull. So I wanted to give my coins a facelift with different colours as life is so colourful. When people look at these works, they instantly get attracted to them and ask me how do I do it?,” says Shamshuddin.

Shamshuddin uses a mix of permanent and regular markers to work on the coins.  “The regular markers get wiped away easily. So predominantly, I use permanent markers,” he says. Though he has coins from all the countries, he prefers to paint on Indian ones. “I look for nickel coins to work with as the colours really stand out on them. I mainly paint faces on foreign coins as they come out better,” he informs.

Some of his works include a painting on Queen Elizabeth and one on Aladdin. “The coin I used to paint Aladdin is an interesting one. It’s a British-Indian antique coin of King George and goes back to 1947,” he notes. One of the most challenging works that he has done is that of two men on an Australian coin. “They are wrestlers, who are all set to fight with each other. Since I had to draw two faces on one coin, this was a difficult one to do.”

Shamshuddin’s collection also has a series of landscapes and silhouettes. “Black silhouettes always look nice on coins. So be it a dark dolphin leaping out of the sea against the backdrop of a sunset or a cat or two birds sitting on a branch, I end up doing a lot of these,” he says. One of his most touching works is the one based on the young Syrian boy who was washed ashore in Turkey. “There are many pressing issues affecting the world today and I want my coins to have a message. There is one more work that I have done which spreads the message of love and peace,” he exclaims.

While different themes and happenings around the world inspire him, sometimes it’s also the structure and designs of a coin that lead him to do a particular work. “There is a work that I have done of someone holding an Indian flag. This was on a one rupee coin that had a hand on it. As soon as I saw the design, I was inspired to make it look like someone was holding a flag,” he notes.

Ask him on how he developed so many hobbies and he says, “I keep reading and trying out new things. Some work and some don’t. But whatever comes out well, I develop my skills in that area.” While he placed 21 egg carvings on top of each other to create a record, he plans to create another one with his coins soon. “I am bored of the concept of a black board or surface being used to showcase a coin collection. So I want to use all my coins to draw a face and create a new record,” he says wishfully. He also plans to do seasonal and festive coins. “While people like to go out during the weekends, I dedicate those two days to all my hobbies and I totally enjoy it,” he signs off.


(Shamshuddin can be reached at [e-mail])