Neatly sorted and stuck, the labels cover a variety of subjects, including animals, dolls, flowers, film stars, rockets, aeroplanes and ships, the oldest among them dating back to 1940.

Pillay's early collecting interest lay in the direction of posters of film stars, stamps and picture postcards. ``I was crazy about films as a child and loved writing to stars,'' admits the genial gentleman. This explains his taking up at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), as a daftary in the accounts section. His passion for matchbox labels is more recent, one which started in 1993 to be exact. ``Once, as I was walking out of my house opposite the Bopodi octroi post, I came across a matchbox which the driver of a passing truck had chucked out. It had an interesting scene of a landscape on it and I decided to keep it.'' That was enough to spark off Pillay's interest in matchboxes.

His collection comprises labels of historical figures (Chhatrapati Shivaji, Maharana Pratap Singh, Bhagat Singh, Gautam Buddha), wildlife (lions, peacocks, elephants), a section on cats and mice and film stars. How does he go about his hobby? ``I get matchbox labels from all over. On weekends, I make the rounds of the Bopodi octroi post, paan shops and some collector friends. I haven't needed to spend much on my hobby. Friends, colleagues and visitors to the NFAI from all over the globe helped enormously in adding to my collection,'' he says.

His most treasured recent additions include labels from just before the time of Indian independence - among them faded pictures of a flower girl, flags with 1947 printed above them, the Sarnath lions, a map of undivided India. ``These were given to me by Shanta Krishnamurthy, who works in the administrative section of the NFAI. It was part of her uncle's collection, and when she came to know about my hobby, she gave them to me,'' he smiles.

He also recalls with delight the time he received a batch of English matchbox labels by post in 1997. ``I had been written about in a magazine called Children's World, a copy of which fell into the hands of John Summers, a British matchbox labels collector, and he got in touch with me.''

A Swiss matchbox in the shape of a ski shoe, an Italian one shaped like a drum and a Spanish matchbox shaped like a book, items that find pride of place in his drawing room, were also given to him by Mumbai-based Rekha Sapru, when she came to know of his unusual hobby.

Pillay has held 11 exhibitions in various parts of the city and hopes to house his collection in a museum later, as his family is not particularly interested in his hobby. ``What I love best about these exhibitions is the expression of joy that I see on children's faces when they look at the matchbox labels.'' A joy, that he believes, has no match!