For most people, they are nothing but bits of paper used as a mode of payment for postage, but for a philatelist stamps hold the sort of reverential value a sports car enthusiast will have for a Ford Mustang: they’re a highly prized and desirable collectible.
My father developed the hobby of collecting postage stamps at a young age and has been devoted to it for almost his entire life, but it was grandfather who introduced me to them. I remember him as an avid collector who not only enjoyed collecting stamps but also took great pleasure in sharing them with other stamp enthusiasts. His passion for stamps won him friends from all walks of life ranging from bureaucrats to doctors and schoolchildren.
As a young child I would often observe him as he soaked stamps off envelopes, dried them and sorted them before placing them with utmost care on album pages, which he would divide into different thematic sections. On occasions when I would give him a hand with that, he would instruct me about how to handle stamps without spoiling them. Surprisingly, however, most of the time he would give me a free hand to arrange the stamps the way I liked, which I guess was his way of inculcating in me the hobby.
I recall vividly how to foster my interest in stamps he would ask me to pick any stamp of my choice from an album; he would explain to me its origin, history, theme and so on. He would take me to philately exhibitions and encourage me to make notes about the different stamps exhibited. “Each stamp tells a story,” he would say.
Dedicated album
He had an album just for child-themed stamps; my favourite was Bal Din, Indian Postage, 15 naya paisa, which was issued in 1957, on November 14 to be exact. What strikes my fancy in this stamp is the picture of a little girl who is shown writing letters on a school slate. Among other stamps of the series may be mentioned Bal Din, Indian Postage, 90 np: a picture of a toy horse, and the one which has a portrait of a cute school boy eating half-peeled banana (Bal Din, Indian Postage, 8 np).
I also enjoyed my grandfather’s collection of topical issues, which includes birds, butterflies, animals, aeroplanes, personalities, boats and so on. But my grandfather’s prized possession was ‘The Black Penny’, the world’s first postage stamp, released in the 1850s, that he would handle with utmost care and keep in the locker of his steel almirah; but at some point, while I was still in my teens, he gave it away as a gift to a close friend.
I remember him asking me on one occasion: “Tell me, what is a stamp?” “It’s a small piece of paper with a picture on it,” I replied, naively. He gave me a big smile and said, “That’s right, but it’s also a piece of art, a part of culture, a slice of history, a means of reaching various civilisations and traditions of the world.”
I now see my children, aged seven and four, with their stamp collections — gently holding stamps, organising them, taking pride in them, sharing their knowledge about them, and swapping them with each other and their friends.
rajeshkrishan77@gmail.com
