Coimbatore :
A man with a sharp eye for stones and a deep-rooted passion for his hobby has been collecting mineral stones, fossils and ambers for the past 20 years.
While most of his collection is from Nasik and Shirdi, T R V Sundar also has stones from Hawaii, Uruguay and US. He always travels with a cutter. “I just cannot stop now. Where ever I go I look for rare minerals,” he says.
He only looks for the rare minerals. “At Kangayam near Tirupur, I found an amethyst in the trash,” he said. He has collected more than 1,800 mineral stones and dreams of having a museum of his own one day.
Sundar, now 42, started collecting rare minerals when he was 21 years old. A native of Salem, he has been living in Coimbatore for the past six years.
“I completed my studies and got into the granite stone business. One day at a quarry, I saw a different stone and started reading about it,” he says.
After that day he collected several such stones for two months only to realize that they were all quartsite.
“I got hooked to the hobby of collecting rare stones and visited several geologists for more information,” he says. His collection has rocks dating back 1.2 billion years. “I travel at least 50 times a year to collect these minerals,” he said.
His collection includes stones such as apophylite, cave coral, green heulandite, geode agate on rainbow chalcedony and amethyst. He has six fossils called ammonites which are fossils of sea creatures from 415 million years ago. He has a few ambers which are fossilised tree resin with mosquito fossils in them that are over 20 million years old.
“It was only six months ago that I realised that these minerals and fossils can be sold. According to an article in an interior magazine, several interior designers incorporate these minerals as part of the design in the living room, bar counters and many other places. So I spoke to a few architects and have sold a mineral stone recently for Rs 7,000,” he said.
There are several groups online that help you with information on these mineral stones. “I recently swapped two of my rare stones with a collector in Uruguay,” he said. He warns young mineral collectors to beware of imposters online.
“I suggest one should go to the field and collect these stones as it is fun as well as informative.” There are several rules to be followed while collecting such rare mineral stones. “We should get prior permission from the geologist centre of a particular place before cutting from caves. Also several agents in such locations will guide us with the formalities,” he said.
With his favourite mineral stone apophyllite in his hand, he says, “I don’t believe in wearing rare stones as jewellery. Frankly, I have so many rare stones but none have brought me any extra positivity or prosperity. All these are superstitions. But this is my favourite stone and is my pet too. Sometimes it talks to me and tells me to be calm.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Komal Gautham, TNN / September 15th, 2014