Card mania

The king of spades, the queen of diamonds and the jack of hearts in large sizes adorn a room in Kishore Gordhandas' residence in Mumbai. Images of animals, costumes, historical figures, cartoons, arts, treasures, cookery on cards along with other various themes are also present.

Gordhandas has over 5,000 packs of cards from over 70 countries in the world. Coming in odd shapes of concave, triangular, crooked, egg, Egyptian mummy, zigzag, etc., and in various sizes and made up of different materials, such as ivory, leather, cotton, wood, palm leaf and more, the collection is a must-see.

The largest card collector in Asia, Gordhandas has bagged a place in the Limca Book of Records since its inception. And it's not those standard cards that one usually sees, because his cards take you on a historical journey. From the pack issued in 1911 by the state of Bhavnagar on the occasion of a royal wedding to the Kennedy cards issued in 1962 which were taken off the market after the former U.S. President's assassination, his collection reveals a lot.

"This is one of the only three playing cards, salvaged from the Titanic," he says showing a gilt-edged three of spades in a green and gold flower design.

His collection also boasts of the Indian traditional Ganjifa cards, a rare art of handmade and hand-painted circular cards, which date back to 1587. 'Ganj' in Persian means treasure or minted money. These are either an eight-suited pack of 96 Mughal Ganjifa cards or a 10-12 suited pack of 120 to 144 card dasavatara Ganjifa.

Gordhandas actually travelled to the few states where this art prevailed and increased his collection to 75 Ganjifa sets.

He recounts,"A few years ago I tried to order some sets but imagine my distress when I found there were no craftsmen left who could execute these."

Instrumental in reviving this dying art, Gordhandas is trying hard to bring awareness through the various lectures, workshops and articles he has written.

The smallest card in his collection is 9x12mm whereas the longest one is 9x12 inches.

He also has educational, tarots, fortune telling and other subjects in his collection. "Most of these cards are limited edition sets," he says "and unless you are in touch with other collectors and keep track of the new card issues that appear in the journals of card societies, collector's items will pass by."

He waits for the original set to be up on sale but at times has to be happy with a reprint, if produced. An example of this is the Flemish hunting cards from the 15th century which is supposedly the oldest surviving playing card pack in the world.

"The original is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York," he smiles, mentioning how he has to suffice with the reprint.

Having been interested in puzzles and tricks from his school days, Gordhandas, in the late '70s started contributing to Games and Puzzles, a well known English magazine. The editor of the magazine, acknowledging Gordhandas' interest in cards, advised him to join the International Playing Card Society in London. And this triggered his amazing collection.

He got in touch with various collectors and museums and has been collecting and exchanging cards ever since. His knowledge on the subject grew too. He has categorised his collection in two groups – standard and non-standard ones. The standard ones include modern and antique, Indian and foreign, advertising and political cards, etc. The non-standard ones are unusual ones, which include artistic issues, pictorial souvenirs, creative and fancy packs.

"The cards have a story to tell, provided you listen carefully," he says. For instance, when South Africa broke off from the Commonwealth, the names on the cards were changed from Ace to President, King to Kommandant and Jack to Boer.

His love of cards is apparent if you see his house. He has cups, clocks, toothbrushes, bowls, wristwatches, and toothpick holders with imprints of hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs and jokers. And this simply is a hobby pursued with a passion."I don't let it affect my business, which is dealing with stationery," he clarifies.

And when he narrates the story of how a young Maharani invented the card game to stop her husband fiddling with his beard, one tends to wonder what Mrs Gordhandas will have to invent to divert her husband's attention from cards.