The happiness of small things!

There was no trace of the postman as yet; usually he comes around this time. I was still in third standard and had just been introduced to the fascinating world of postal stamps. My count has not even touched a double figure but the madness had gripped me in totality. I would spend entire afternoon’s post late lunch after coming back from school admiring the many facets of each of them. Reading the every possible details and trying to get acquainted about the country became a habit. My fondness for capitals and currencies further added fuel to this newly acquired passion.

Our days at Chandigarh could definitely be termed as the most satisfying years; we, I and didi, were in school and had little worries. Life was simple but full of new discoveries; we were content and happy; A routine day started with the usual hustle bustle and hurried departure to catch the bus for school. There was always a rivalry between 3 BRD and 40 Wing – this rivalry was in terms of the quality of vehicle and also the timing. Usually the race is won by the group whose bus reports first, and usually we were on the losing side. 3 BRD Bus would always come second when the 40 Wing Bus had already left the spot with the winners. School was fun, right in the middle of the Air Force Station. In fact, some of the wings were intermingled with the bachelor billets of Airmen. Many times we could see the undergarments lazily lying on the loosely held strings. Those were the days of Unit Tests and I was doing great with my studies.

A good score at a unit test was enough to make me happy for the entire day. The maximum marks were 70 for each Term for each subject but usually two separate examinations of 35 marks were held at different times to make for the total. Vineet, Ashwini, Seema, Virender, JK, S Akilan, were some of my friends. The bread pakora at School canteen was also a favourite with me and didi as well. On some days, we would gather, at canteen to have bread pakoras. Didi was senior to me by two standards and for obvious reasons she used to be the custodian of one rupee coin that mom would hand over. Without fail, i would reach the canteen and relish each bite. “Mom can never make such pakoras” we used to say in unison. That was the type of honesty attached with childhood. Now, i know, anyone can make such pakoras; logic and intellect has taken over incredulous childish honesty.

I was on cloud nine; no it’s not for the high scores at Term Exams but a small piece of paper that had literally made my day. On my repeated requests, at last, the postman has turned up with two foreign stamps – one from New Zealand and the other from Denmark. The one from New Zealand had a beautiful painting titled “Lake Pukaki” by John Gully while the other had a speeding biker and a tile “VM Speedways”. I used to ponder why they have issued postal stamps on such trivial things. The quality of printing and paper was also exceptional, much superior to our Indian variety.

My next few went into inquiring about the geographical facts about these newly known countries. While i was still in euphoria, my friend S Akilan, gave me a puzzle that was too much for a third standard student. “This stamp has your name on it” he said handling over the stamp bearing “MALAYA” on it. But it indeed had Malaya on it and to the best of my knowledge there was no country by this name. The list of countries at the end of my ATLAS had no mention of this country even. At last, I concluded quite surely, that it was a fake, still decided to keep it as it had my name. I would know about the authenticity of the place and the stamp only a few years later. Likewise Magyar Posta, Hellas, Ostrich remained mysterious many years.

Life went on quietly for the next two years with those lazy post lunch sessions chewing Sugarcane; playing cricket with oil bat; losing the cricket matches; mango softie with those five rupee coins bearing Indira Gandhi; Sunday picnics to Rose Garden; Sarso ka Saag from Apni Mandi; Fudgy Stickers; Big Fun Chewing Gum that came with a photograph of a cricketer and runs/ wickets depending on the credentials of the individuals (There were rumours of guys who have collected 1000 runs and bagged a Cricket bat; never went into details and accepted it gullibly) Once mom promised to give me a 50 paisa if I go a nap in the afternoon. I found it difficult to sleep in those days. But I did that day, just at the thought of buying two big fun gums in the evening. The runs/ wickets were of some ordinary players; Kapil Dev used to be the much sought after one.

I had little idea that this initial engagement would come this far. From Chandigarh, we moved to Gwalior and we were admitted to another KV. But, this has no similarities with the preceding one. Here, the teachers and the students were all casual; No general knowledge, no philately, no numismatics, no extracurricular activity worth mentioning; this was coupled with the local mindset that created barrier between genders – separate sitting for boys and girls; nearly zero interaction even during the classes. I found it quite alien but had no options. Suranjan and Anirban became my first friends and soon the trio of Bong became famous for their academic exploits.

Coming back to the topic, the history of first postal stamp goes back to 1840, twenty years later than Hans Christian Orsted’s discovery of Electro Magnetic linkage. Sir Roland Hill, who was instrumental in bringing postal reforms, came up this idea with creation of Penny Black. Penny Black was printed on un-perforated sheet of paper, cut with scissors for sale. The total print run for this first adhesive stamp was 286,700 sheets with 68,808,000 stamps. But, Sir Hill had no idea that one day an experimental set-up at MIT in 1965 would make his discovery obsolete but not before the commercial success around 1990s. But, what he discovered survived for 150 years and caught the imagination of millions across the globe.

Stamps have been issued by different countries on a host of divergent concepts although it can be easily said that all countries must have issued at least one stamp on famous personalities. These included freedom fighters, sportsmen, industrialists, musicians, theatre personalities, poets, philosophers, historical figures and even Henna Patterns. Mahatma Gandhi’s indelible imprint not only on Indian Stamps but on many foreign stamps is quite a feat. His means of protest such as Satyagraha has even found place on the stamps. The other person matching the mahatma is Rowland Hill. Charlie Chaplin and Michelangelo have found place in Indian Stamps alongside Chaitanya Mahaprabu and Aamir Khusrau.

Other major subject for Stamps is without doubt - the Flora and Fauna of any country. National Animal and National Flower find special place in such releases. In India, a good number of stamps have been issued starting from the mangroves to the Bulbul. The initial releases on this subject where mono or bi-coloured and only by the 1980s Stamps with real Eastman colour hit the market.

When it comes to Historical monuments, India has no dearth of them and even if are not good at preserving the precious heritage, in terms of putting them on stamps has been taken care off quite decently. There are stamps on the Konarak Temple, Hampi Chariot, Sanchi Stupa, Golconda Fort, Chandragiri fort and many other ones. Most of the National Museums treasuring this heritage have also found mention in various issues. Salarjung Museum, the largest collection in the entire world put together by a single man, appeared in a release around 1987.

Academic Institutions feature regularly on Indian Stamps and it was a special occasion when one day scanning through my official mail, I found MITS on the Stamp. MITS (Madhav Institute of Technology & Science) was the place where I spend four long years during my bachelors. Although there are numerous engineering institutions across India far superior to ours, MITS won the race because of its illustrious history and political association of its patrons.

The concept of an engineering college came to the erstwhile maharaja of Gwalior Shrimant Jiwaji Rao Scindia immediately after independence. As he was aware of the fading royalty in the democratic days to come, he wanted to create something for the larger benefit of his populace and find place in their hearts. The scale of construction was huge – Foundation Stone was laid by none other than Rajendra Prasad in 1957 and on completion it was inaugurated by Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan in 1964. Time spend on finishing this fabulous sandstone edifice can give you an idea of its scale. In fact the maharaja left no stone unturned to make his college the best in the country – Machines were imported directly from GEC, London; Babcock & Wilcox, London and Haefely, Switzerland.

Initially the Scindias took personal care into the day to day happenings, the Institution, remained one of the best in India, but post 1980, the interest lost steam and the college became a victim. The management became shoddier by the day and standards kept on going southwards. When I enrolled for my bachelors in Electrical Engineering in 1996, without any prejudices whatsoever, it was quite like any B-Grade College in India, far below the Standards of IITs and the RECs. Castism and Regionalism were flourishing rampantly with no intrusion of the management to control the same. Anyhow with all this, although not all IITs and very few RECs have a postal stamp on them, MITS got this one, by hook or crook.

Other than the Academic Institutions many thematic bodies such as the Theosophical Society of India, Aga Khan Foundation, UPSC also finds place in Indian Postal Stamps. Jewellery had a rich tradition in princely India and the same has been beautifully put on stamps by a series dedicated to this art form. Nizam Jewellery, a spectacular collection of the erstwhile Hyderabad Nizams finds special place in this series.

The richness of Indian folk and Art forms such as Madhubani Paintings (of Bihar), Bidri ware (Persian Art from Bidar) have also found place on the pieces of paper. One thing is for sure that stamps are a world of knowledge in themselves and you need a tinge of inquisitiveness to appreciate the wide canvas of themes covered. I had no idea what bidri ware is when I first got my hand on this beautifully crafted 2 paisa stamps, neatly designed in monotone.

My encounter with Bidri ware came about at Bidar that has a rich history and fantastic mute monuments speaking about the grandeur of the bygone era. The Bidar Fort and Madarsa of Mahmud Gawan are masterpieces in their class; penetrate a little deeper one would know about the Persian influences that shaped up the Cultural canvas. Bidri Craftsmanship came from Persia just like the other architectural influences of slanted walls, use of acoustics as a defence mechanism and became famous. I would have loved to buy back a souvenir but could not because of the cost. Just imagine a piece of small paper had so much of importance and I bet every single theme depicted on postal stamps have a history that’s worth exploring.

Sporting Action has found its due place in the Stamps all over the World. Olympic, Commonwealth, and Asian Games have found expression on glossy sheets time and again. A sporty nation is a precursor for comprehensive development and progress in all arenas. Although, we can hardly compare our sportiness with a country like Australia efforts have been put in to develop the same. Next, comes the inadequately addressed areas of Health Care in an Indian perspective. Pulse Polio remains the favourite theme as for populous country like India Polio Eradication remains still a challenge. I still remember the resistance that was faced by the volunteers administrating the drops in Malda district of West Bengal.

Nostalgic warm associated with rail travel in India with the numerous options of Hill Trains and the engineering marvel of Konkan Railways finds their place in Indian Stamps. Darjeeling Railways (now a World heritage Property), Neral Matheran (now non-operational because of washing down of tracks; we had our share of travel by this train when in Mumbai), Electric locomotives all have found place in the list of numerous stamps release till date. In fact Railways remains a universal favourite when it comes to stamps, because of beautiful pictorial depiction and mass appeal.

Stamps stressing the defence capabilities of nation are equally important from the viewpoint of education the masses and entrusting confidence into them. Nearly all the units from Air Force (Squadrons & Wings) and Army (Light Infantry, Artillery) have got a stamp of their own. State of the Art fighter planes (GNAT), Strategic technologies (AWACS), combat mechanisms, and famous victories have found their due place on paper. Russia, previously NOYTA CCCP and the other communist nations are famous for coming up with stamps commemorating military events in a big way. Crimson Red is the other unmistakable feature of their stamps – signifying revolution. “Hail the Revolution!”

India, being an agriculturalist country having a predominantly agrarian economy has a plethora of stamps on Agriculture. Subjects as trivial as Irrigation by pumps, plucking of tea, white cotton and the Indian favourite Mango have found their place. These actually imbibe a sense amongst the masses that they remain centre staged while policy making and are pivotal to the development & emergence of the nation as a whole. This is also important to make the urban Indian understand and appreciate the role the agrarian community has played in creating a self reliant India. We must understand that both “India” & “Bharat” need each other and complement each other.

Energy Security is also close to our policy makers and accordingly to make the populace equally aware, a host of stamps have been issued – Solar Energy, Bio Gas, Hydro Electric Power – have come up quite early. Sam Pitroda may be name known to urban techies but his achievements have been put on postal stamps to stress upon the importance of Tele Communication and its relevance in modern world. But, slowly and definitely, that era has gone; for better or worst! but what has remained intact is my helplessness to take out these pieces of paper whenever, spot them, to augement my collection even to this date. Some love stories simply never end!