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The great Indian hat trick
Updated On: 10 January, 2012 06:43 AM IST | | Soma Das
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya is hosting Shirobhushan, an exhibition showcasing 70 unique caps sourced from all over the world and across time spans. It is part of avid hat collector and record holder Anant Joshi's personal collection
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Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya is hosting Shirobhushan, an exhibition showcasing 70 unique caps sourced from all over the world and across time spans. It is part of avid hat collector and record holder Anant Joshi's personal collection
While there are collectors of books, maps, rare antiquities and what not, Anant Joshi has a unique passion he hunts for quirky hats.
Anant Joshi with his collection of hats, Helmet from Prussia
The collector's bug bit him when he was a kid: "I was the sickly kind and spent a lot of time by myself in bed and watching Westerns on video.
u00a0
I loved the way most characters would doff their hats off. That's how hats became my favourite toys," he recalls.
Cheap hats purchased from local fairs soon became Joshi's prized possessions. When he was 12, his mother bought him a real hat from USA.
He was thrilled and was inseparable from it for days. By the time he managed to acquire 25 hats, he was contemplating the possibility of nurturing it as a hobby.
It's been 35 years since then and he now has an enviable collection of 1,500 caps from all over the world. He has turned his home in Kalyan into a cap museum. His obsession fetched him a place in the Limca Book of Records as well.
Method in madness
Joshi admits that he has sought help from his friends as well to add to his collection. "When my friends and relatives travel abroad, I request them to fetch me unique caps from that particular country.
While there are collectors of books, maps, rare antiquities and what not, Anant Joshi has a unique passion he hunts for quirky hats.
Anant Joshi with his collection of hats, Helmet from Prussia
The collector's bug bit him when he was a kid: "I was the sickly kind and spent a lot of time by myself in bed and watching Westerns on video.
u00a0
I loved the way most characters would doff their hats off. That's how hats became my favourite toys," he recalls.
Cheap hats purchased from local fairs soon became Joshi's prized possessions. When he was 12, his mother bought him a real hat from USA.
He was thrilled and was inseparable from it for days. By the time he managed to acquire 25 hats, he was contemplating the possibility of nurturing it as a hobby.
It's been 35 years since then and he now has an enviable collection of 1,500 caps from all over the world. He has turned his home in Kalyan into a cap museum. His obsession fetched him a place in the Limca Book of Records as well.
Method in madness
Joshi admits that he has sought help from his friends as well to add to his collection. "When my friends and relatives travel abroad, I request them to fetch me unique caps from that particular country.
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