Agarwal and his wife surrounded by the odd items. Picture by Abhijit Chakrabarty

Balurghat, June 25: Rare coins dating back to the time of the Palas and Senas, room heaters, sewing machines, empty wine bottles, old cameras, foghorns of ships, cups and saucers, projectors and old clocks — all stacked in a 5ft by 4ft room.

Covered by a thin layer of dust, the endless list of items is straight out of a Dickens novel, only that the curiosity shop is in Balurghat. But 48-year-old Nirmal Agarwal refuses to leave it at that. Agarwal, also known as Gulia, wants a proper home for his “curiosities”. He has been collecting them from every corner of the country.

A man on a mission, Agarwal is determined to build the largest collection of rare items so that future generations can get a taste of the past.

“It all began when I was in school and started collecting matchbox labels. I was also into philately. Now I have developed a habit of collecting all kinds of things during my travels throughout India,” said Agarwal in fluent Bengali. The language is his mother tongue, being an eighth generation Marwari in Balurghat, where his family has been in the textile business for more than 150 years.

Today, his collection, which has been stacked in several rooms of his house, not only boasts of old and rare projectors, coins, manuscripts, bottles and cameras, but also newspapers published on “memorable dates”. Just as you would find one dated August 15, 1947, there is another that was published on January 26, 1950. Five-rupee currency notes with both the Indian and Pakistan government’s names are also a part of the collector’s items.

“I have admirers, too. It was only last month that a collector from Calcutta’s Bhawanipore area, Parimal Roy, gifted me a folding plate camera dating back to 1906,” he said, proudly displaying the object.

Agarwal’s only grouse is that despite top government officials turning up at his house to take a look at his collection, no one is ready to help him set up a museum for the “odd items”.

South Dinajpur district magistrate Romit Mutsuddi said he was aware of Agarwal’s hobby. “We are getting the old, abandoned jail building renovated to set up the district museum. We will ask Agarwal to donate some of his items for display,” he said.

Chairman of Balurghat Municipality Sucheta Biswas is ready to help Agarwal set up a museum jointly with the civic body. But Agarwal is not very keen on the idea. He wants land for a building and a trust to run his museum.