Inside a modest structure topped by an asbestos sheet by the roadside at Kummanam in Kottayam, 74-year-old Abdul Rahman deals with currency notes. It's just that the notes are torn, burnt, soiled and dotted with scribblings. He squints into those notes, gauges the damage and sets to repair them with his own assortment of tools. He takes damaged currency notes in any form and helps people recover their money.

What began as a personal favour eventually became a calling. Years ago, while visiting his son-in-law Majeed in Kollam, Rahman heard of a neighbour who lost ₹8,000 after a fire damaged the notes. “Majeed asked me if I could help them by checking with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) whether there was a way to recover the money,” Rahman recalls. He travelled to the RBI’s regional office in Thiruvananthapuram and submitted the damaged notes in a designated deposit box. Two months later, the amount was credited to his bank account.

“It was my first visit to the RBI. While standing in the queue, I saw officials patiently cleaning and repairing old notes—taping, flattening, and inspecting them carefully. That’s when the idea struck me: why not do the same back home?” says Rahman. He returned to Kummanam, arranged some money, bought the necessary tools—special paper, glue, scissors, knife, tapes and so on—and began his new endeavour. Repairing notes is a meticulous process. “You need to remove any regular tape people might have used, clean any dirt or residue, and fix holes—sometimes tiny ones. There’s special paper for patching, and it has to be done with precision,” he says.

Rahman had worked at the Sahithya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society in Kottayam for 25 years. Post-retirement, he took buses to various towns and cities across Kerala, visiting shops and religious institutions—temples, churches, and mosques—to collect unusable notes. “Donation boxes often contain old or torn notes. They’re only opened occasionally, and many of the notes inside are unusable,” he says. In those early days, Rahman would go from shop to shop asking if they had damaged currency. From there, he’d ask about nearby religious places, creating a quiet network of note collection across districts.

As age caught up with him, the long journeys and walking became too much. So, he set up a humble wayside stall just a 10-minute walk from his rented home in Kummanam. Now, people come to him—shopkeepers, bus conductors, and others who regularly deal with cash.

“I always give fresh notes immediately in exchange,” Rahman says. “If I don’t have enough money on hand, I borrow from someone to ensure the customer doesn’t leave empty-handed.” He makes a modest profit from the exchange. For a ₹10 note, he might return ₹7, keeping ₹3 for his effort. On an average, he collects about ₹25,000 worth of damaged notes every two months and takes them to the RBI office in Thiruvananthapuram. He doesn’t approach regular banks. “Most banks only allow you to exchange 10 notes at a time, and the process is long and complicated. The RBI is much more direct,” he explains.

Rahman lives with his wife, Balkees. They have two daughters, Sabeena and Saleena, and a son, Saleem.