Pakistani traveller Emaad Paracha has not just visited all the sites on the country’s currency notes but has also explored parts of the US, Canada and the UAE. By Tanvi Jain
In light of #IndependenceDay , here's my currency photo project where I took photos of Pakistan's notes and coins along with the monuments and places on them. It took me 4 years to go to places like K2, Mohenjodaro, Ziarat, and many more! #14AugustAzadiDay #PakistanZindabad pic.twitter.com/IUMJ4RGXTb
Advertisement— Emaad Paracha (@parachuchutrain) August 14, 2020
Meet Emaad Paracha from Pakistan, a travel enthusiast and a Cloud Solution Architect, who loves to explore new destinations and match famous monuments, buildings and landmarks on currency notes and coins from across the planet, as a part of The Currency Project.
“Growing up in Pakistan, the Pakistani rupee that I had grown up using had pictures of different places on it, but there was one place in particular that I was always interested in –– the ruins of Mohenjo Daro. When I finally visited the ruins in 2015, I asked the tour guide to take me to the exact spot the picture was taken as on the 20 rupee note. I had a slightly crumpled up note in my wallet, and I took a picture of the note with the ruins in the background and that was the start of The Currency Project!” Paracha shared on the project’s official website.
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“After sharing pictures from that trip, I made it a mission to go all over Pakistan and the rest of the world, taking pictures of currencies and the monuments and places on them around the world! This project has made me trek for two weeks on the world’s fifth-largest non-polar glacier, drive for more than 30 hours to get to a famous harbour, fly to countless places and spend layovers in different countries taking currency pictures. The project is a wonderful combination of travelling, photography, collecting notes and coins, and studying history. It has been five years since I’ve been doing this project, visited six countries, taken more than 35 pictures, and there’s many more to come!” he added.
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In the course of the next four years, Paracha managed to photograph, Bab-e-Khyber on PKR 10, Badshahi mosque, Lahore on PKR 500, Islamia College, Peshawar on PKR 1,000, and Faisal Mosque, Islamabad on PKR 5,000 note.
As per media reports, Paracha has so far explored parts of the United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates and other regions of Pakistan. He recently ticked off from his bucket list the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg on their USD 10 bill and spent two weeks hiking to K2 this summer. He plans to visit Mexico next and aims to photograph the buildings and landmarks of Russia, some day.