Philatelists and music lovers in the city now have reasons to rejoice. The department of posts will release a set of eight commemorative postage stamps on ‘Indian Musicians’ on September 3. The department will release stamps on D.K. Pattamal, Ali Akbar Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Kumar Gandharva, Mallikarjun Mansur, Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan.
Every year, the department releases commemorative stamps on various themes and also maintains philately accounts. The new set will be launched simultaneously in New Delhi and Chennai. They will come in denominations of Rs. 20 and Rs. 5. Philatelists said such releases would be a hit among stamp collectors. There are about 270 collectors in Chennai.
C.G. Bhaskar, treasurer of the South India Philatelists Association said: “Every year, 50 commemorative stamps are released. We even have philatelists who collect on the themes revolving around music and art forms.” The stamps, miniature sheets, brochures and first day covers will be sold in philatelic bureaus from Wednesday.
