Coins that are stitched to the history of India. A personal account of the connections to Anna coins by a twenty something malayalee.
Anna coins, the currency of India from 1911 to 1957 remains a huge memory to any Indian who lived during that time. Any grandparent you ask today will definitely have a story linked with it . Struggle to get freedom from the British , times of hunger when they had to just hold on to the few coins they had for food, fighting for education will be some of the memories linked with anna paisa.
None of these experience can be understood by a kid in 20th century where information is at fingertips and money lost its value. To revive these memories, Viakerala came up with anna series coin magnets, the latest updation towards preserving the culture and history of India.
Anna coin series magnets are a series of handcrafted ceramic magnets that have designs similar to anna coins of olden days. Made in various shapes and sizes, anna coins are available in circle, diamond,wavy border patterns shapes.
A 20 something old person will always connect to the famous “ootta kaal anna” dialogue by thilagan in Malayalam movie spadikam. The first time I see this movie is when my dad explained to me the anna ,paisa, chakaram and other coins used in the olden days. My curiosity as a child let me to search among the old things at home which lead me to an old dusty box with some old coins . Weightless ,dusty, unclear coins was in that old box. A small impression of “anna” written was remaining on those coins.
The touch and feel of these coin magnets makes it a perfect gift for my grandparents who will have a ton of memories to unload. Choosing a gift for a grandparent is a hard selection to make because of their perspective on things and the fast moving world around. To a grandfather like mine, who was in merchant navy, these magnets will remain close to his heart. The design and the values will bring back the memories of his golden days when every penny was earned hard way. The value of Indian currency to that of a foreign currency , the conversions of currency when he buy something for home and many more stories are the memories he live with.
Culture and tradition are always important as they are the gateway to history of ones own beliefs and lifestyle. These anna coin series are the guide lines for the present generation and the generations to come . To know the struggles that people in the past had to face to have he life we live today.