Did you know that you can have your picture on the postal stamp? “My Stamp”, a philatelic concept by the Army Post Office (APO) helps you do just that.
Take a picture with your family, classmates and friends and get it printed on a stamp. Choose from stamp sheets with pictures from Panchatantra, railway engines, sun signs, aircrafts, Taj Mahal, wildlife, flowers and more to go with your personalised stamp that will be issued by the Indian Post. And you can use these stamps on letters much like the regular stamps. The “Make your own stamp” counter was one of the attractions at the Gajraj Philex- 2014, the philatelic exhibition at Tezpur, Assam organised by APO, that showcased rare stamps issued by Indian Postal Services and APO.
Yellow coloured postcards, inland covers and stamps of smaller denominations like 40 paisa brought back memories of an era long gone past when red post boxes dotted the streets and afternoons were spent waiting for the postman.
The exhibition was hosted by the Army Public School. The collection was sourced from across the country and offered a wealth of information on places, people, events and more.
Special ones
Stamps on actor Sivaji Ganesan, freedom fighters Tantya Tope and Jairamdas Daulatram, D.N.Wadia (known as Father of Indian Geology), Indologist Krishna Kanta Handique, G.D.Birla and legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Kargil Diwas, Dandi March, Tokyo Olympics and 3-Dimensional stamps on the Apollo XVI series issued on September 1972 were the highlights. As also were the stamps and postcards with CST Station, Mumbai, the Calcutta GPO Building and other heritage buildings, series on relief paintings and Mona Lisa, and picturesque stamps on Silent Valley focusing on its biodiversity.
A rare collection ‘Life of Gandhi’ through stamps from Raipur’s Surendra Goel and retd. IAS officer Praful Thakkar’s collection of autographed stamps of Swami Vivekananda, Jawaharlal Nehru and other eminent personalities were part of the exhibition.
L. Jedidiah, a Std. IV student of Army Public School, Tezpur, presented his collection featuring fragrant stamps. Fragrant capsules of roses and sandalwood when mixed with gum enable these stamps to slowly release the perfume when stuck on the envelope he said. A member of the philately club of his school, his collection also included error stamps — those with extra colour and other printing errors.
“I have been collecting stamps for two years and have an album where I write details about the person or event or place mentioned in the stamp. I am a member of the Philatelic deposit account of the Indian Postal Service and receive stamps from them with information pertaining to it regularly,” he says.
For details on “My Stamp” write to Philatelic Bureau, 2 CBPO C/O 99 APO or call: 033-25005671/66520500)
To get yourself a philatelic deposit account you can go to the nearest post office and apply. >Visit India Post .
