Raj Kishore Mahanta with his awards . Pictures Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 22: When Sachin Tendulkar decided to hang his boots, the cricket crazy nation lamented and so did Raj Kishore Mahanta, who somehow wanted to show his devotion to the Master Blaster.

Known within his family and friend circle for his knack of collecting of coins and currency notes, Raj’s name was recently included in the Limca Book of Records for his feat of collecting 100 currency notes of Rs 10, each denoting the dates on which Sachin had hit a century.

The serial numbers written on the upper right corner of the notes show the date, month and year of Sachin’s century.

For example, 090890 (the first note in picture) is when the God of Cricket scored his maiden century in Old Trafford against England.

The 20-year-old from Koenjhar also has Rs 10 note of March 16, 2012, when Sachin scored his last against Bangladesh.

The young numismatist bought stacks of notes and fished out the ones he needed. All the notes are new, printed either in 2012 or 2013.

Raj could not attend the annual felicitation programme of Limca Book of Records held earlier this year.

He received his certificate last week sent through courier. Apart from that, he has received trophies and medals from the similar institutes likes Asia Book of Records, India Book of Records, Miracle World Records and Golden Book of World Records. His only desire now is to meet Sachin.

“He is a legend. By showing my collection to him, I want to convey my respect for him,” said Raj who is presently pursuing bachelors’ degree in Business Administration from Utkal University.

Raj also has an enviable collection of coins and currency notes from 150-odd countries. Raj’s family has always considered his passion as waste of time and money but after the felicitations, their opinions changed and they congratulated him for his achievement.

“I am happy that my this accomplishment has brought smiles on the face of my family members. In future, I wish to organise an exhibition showcasing my collections,” he said.

Raj is busy collecting 25 paise coins these days to topple the current record holder. Simultaneously, his eyes are set on procuring error notes where the digits mistakenly did not get published.