Chocolate Wrapper Tales

These and several other anecdotes about the creamy and milky days of Cadbury’s and other chocolates across the world sit neatly tucked in a plastic bag in Minesh Javeri’s cosy Khetwadi 13th lane office.

Don’t go by the worn down heritage structure and the neatly stacked pieces of glass tubes and laboratory items—his main profession is making glass — lining Javeri’s office. For,inside is a veritable treasure trove built by the 59-year-old’s passions,among them his fascination for collecting chocolate wrappers.

“Many people are connoisseur of chocolates. I am one of those who eat them and also keep aside the wrappers,” he says.

He was around 16 when he first took note of the beautiful visuals on the chocolate bars and was fascinated by them. “Within a short period I had a collection with contributions from relatives and friends who would go abroad.”

With more than 300 chocolate wrappers in his collection,he has some familiar brands and some that have slowly faded out of the market. For instance,there is Dr Sathe’s ‘Dr Writers’ chocolate wafers that were “quiet bitter in taste” manufactured at Dadar by Dr Writer’s Chocolate & Canning Company in the 1970’s. There is also ‘Campio with Creamy Chocolate’ from Mangalore.

Once a diehard Cadbury loyalist,Javeri says he would always love the creamy soft bar that would melt in his mouth. It is also something that helped in his love affair.

“While going on a date,I would always carry a Fruit & Nut for her. She would love the fact that unlike other guys I didn’t bring flowers but chocolates and that earned me some brownie points,” he says. That girl went on to become his wife of 40 years and mother of his three children.

Little wonder then that Javeri’s favourite chocolate remains Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut which then came in the regular and thick varieties. However,being a true Gandhian who wore only Khadi clothes and took pride in being Swadeshi,Javeri decided to switch loyalties to Amul. “Though the tastes differed,it always felt nice to carry the Amul bar as the same size of this chocolate weighed more than Cadbury’s in my pocket,” he says,with a smile.

Having tasted chocolates from Iran,Switzerland,UK,USA,Germany and many other countries,this grandfather still can’t get enough to satiate his sweet tooth. He says currently he is facing tough competition from his four-year-old grandson from whom he has to save the delicacies stacked in his refrigerator. “My family doesn’t allow me to eat chocolates now as they say I am aging. But I do indulge myself once in a month.”

Apart from Chocolate wrappers,Javeri also has other unique fetishes — collecting misprinted currency notes,coins with unique marked symbols including the 150th anniversary of India’s first freedom struggle,a two rupee coin with two fingers in a V shape,a one rupee coin with a thumb’s up and a 50 paise coin with a folded fist. He also has BEST bus tickets ranging from a 5 paise ticket to a Rs 40 ticket. “People call me crazy and my family calls the collection raddi (scrap). But I can’t help but collect and keep a record of such unique items. These are the only things I have and I hope my grandchildren will be able to appreciate them,” he says.