Cleaning house or perhaps moving from the old family building to make way for the real estate company to start work on a high rise!
What to do with stacks of old papers, receipts, magazines and crumbled air tickets of the past?
Get rid of them of course, you might say in exasperation.
But wait, among all the old things you want to get rid of, there are some items worth a small fortune.
Really!
Take a closer look.
The air ticket used by your late father in the 70s or 80s or maybe the plane ticket once used by your grandfather before independence.
Perhaps a ticket that you once used to travel for tourism twenty years ago.
These are not, and I repeat, not useless items at all.
Syed bin Salam, Tuhin, an avid collector of air tickets from various airlines of the world, asserts that any airline ticket is a collectible because that ticket represents airline culture and the history of a particular time.
Last week, I was talking to this marvellous man, whose life is devoted to collecting a variety of things: stamps, currency and of course, airline tickets.
I developed a passion for aviation tickets about twenty-one years ago, says Tuhin, adding: “now my collection has about 700 tickets, covering 59 airlines companies.”
Why is this a fascinating hobby?
Well, a ticket is not just a pass to go somewhere; it’s a work of art because a ticket aims to draw a potential client to become its patron through design and colour, maintains Tuhin.
Much like any other product in the market, an airline ticket epitomizes aesthetic preferences of a particular era, often capturing the ethos of an age, asserts the collector.
To reinforce the point, Tuhin Bhai brought out a set of tickets belonging to the national carrier Bangladesh Biman from the 70s and 80s.
Just look at the variation of the colour combinations, he said, bringing out the carefully preserved tickets from inside a folder.
The interest around airline tickets has seen a surge because in the modern day, tickets are not issued anymore, everything is done online, says the collector.
“Many modern day airline users do not know that in the past, an additional ticket for extra luggage was also issued.”
As we were talking, Tuhin bhai brought out a ticket of Pakistan International Airline from the early 50s.
Almost 75 years old, the ticket looks a little fragile, the name of the user faded, but the insignia is clear.
The early PIA ticket featured a running tiger, said Tuhin bhai pointing to the image of the animal just underneath the word ‘PIA’.
In his collection, there’s also an Indian Airlines ticket from the fifties and a set from the 70s and 80s.
An airline staffer needed a special ticket to travel, informed Tuhin, showing me an ‘Employee Trip Pass’ from PIA.
Tickets were used to advertise other products, said the collector and turned over a Biman ticket, showing the advert of a famous umbrella on the backside.
Back in the 70s and 80s, a large number of Bangladeshi workers went to Saudi Arabia to work and many of them kept their tickets as mementos, Tuhin bhai observed, saying that he got a series of tickets belonging to the airline Saudia from them.
Speaking about his favourite ticket, the collector pointed to Biman’s special Hajj ticket, marveling at the design and aesthetic appeal.
Here’s another rare piece, said Tuhin, bringing out a ticket belonging to Union of Burma Airways, which was operational from 1948 till 1972.
Which one do you like the most, Tuhin Bhai asked me with about sixty tickets placed before me and without hesitation, I pointed to Biman’s white blue ticket with the logo in red.
This looks so sophisticated and classy, I remarked.
So, next time you decide to discard a bundle of old stuff, take a careful look because there maybe a gem among the rubbish.
As for airline tickets, hold on to them – what appears worthless today may be worth something tomorrow.
Just make sure, you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
