Asiya Marliya has a pencil that reveals an eraser and not lead, when sharpened. It’s an exotic eraser, one among the 3,000 in her possession. “I’ve sharpened it only once. I don’t want to lose it,” says Alisha.
The eraser bug bit her when she was in Class IV and received a pair of guitar-shaped erasers. “All through school, I borrowed erasers and never used mine,” admits Asiya, at present an intern in SRM Dental College and Hospital.
Astonishing variety
Asiya’s erasers come with various images: tortoises, puzzles, nuts, pencils, pens, cartoon characters, cassettes, trees, skulls and so on. And with different fragrances too.
She claims she can tell an eraser by its smell. “Erasers from China exude a powerful fragrance. The ones from Malaysia are gentle on the nose.”
The images also reveal the origins of the erasers. “Erasers resembling electronic goods, vehicles and food items dominate collections from China. Numerous Japanese erasers are based on green messages. It’s common for Korean erasers to portray images of puzzles and other games geared to intense mental activity.”
Asiya believes erasers from Hong Kong cover a gamut of designs and are of great quality. The biggest of them all, one shaped like a cassette, was bought there. Coming at around Rs. 2,000, it’s probably the costliest in her collection too. Recalls Asiya: “I got it in a last-minute scramble and almost missed my flight.”
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