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Is philately a dying hobby? INDIANS are said to be born with the magpie instinct. From old books and newspapers to matchboxes, gramophone records, vintage cars, playing cards, calendars, film posters, ball pens, dolls, coins and paintings, they would collect anything and everything and preserve for posterity. Postage stamp collectors are supposed to be the most obsessive of the lot. Starting out from a young age, they go about building a massive collection, which gets exhibited, written about and even traded. Diehard philatelists even have clubs and associations to mature their passion through a lifetime. Of late though, they find themselves at a crossroad, thanks to the advent of the Internet. The popularity of e-mails has rendered the postal system virtually redundant. And with it, exchanges of postcards and letters have registered a sharp decline — to the extent that many countries have stopped issuing new stamps. "E-mail is a monster, which has hit philatelists very hard," says Arun Gandhi of the Friends of Stamps, a philately club established 28 years ago in Mumbai. "Even our government has become very miserly about issuing stamps in lots. We are all facing problems due to the paucity of stamps." Vispi Dastur of the
Empires of India Philatelic Society (EPIS) is however, optimistic:
"No e-mail can gobble up the stamp collecting habit. Of course,
youngsters may not be as enthusiastic about stamps as we were in the ‘60s.
But we will survive this e-mail boom, as we survived the advent of radio
and television." |
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But is the ground reality so? "Stamps have no takers because there are fewer converts to the philately habit," says Jimmy Patel, a third generation stamp collector. "People have started regarding this as a childish habit. I know of philatelists who have nobody to bequeath their collections to." Jimmy inherited the love for postage stamps from his chartered accountant father and has converted his wife, Sukanya, into a fanatic philatelist. Together, they specialise in collecting telegraphic stamps "which tell a fascinating story of the development of the telegraph system". Like Jimmy, most veteran philatelists create "ultra niches" for their collections. Subject-wise classifications range from sports stamps and wildlife stamps to portraits, flowers and art works. Some stick to collecting first day covers while others graduate to single colour stamps or limited edition commemorative numbers. Then there are collectors of ‘rarest of rare’ deformities, such as double printing, reverse impressions and odd cancellations. "In philately, size does not matter, variety does," Dastur points out. "For example, in 1948, a few stamps on Mahatma Gandhi worth Rs 10 were issued. It was just an experiment. If someone has one of those stamps in his collection, it would be considered a prized possession today." Dastur’s EPIS provides a forum for collectors to meet and compare notes on their possessions. The members meet religiously every second and fourth Saturday of the month. "We have over 400 members with us", informs Dastur. "Last December, we celebrated our diamond jubilee with a National Philatelic Exhibition at Nasik with the support of the postal department. Our next exhibition is at Bhubaneshwar where we will display our new collections." Likewise, there is the Philatelic Society of India (PSI) which meets on the first and third Saturday of the month in the premises of the GPO in Mumbai. Reputed to be the oldest in Asia, it has held its centenary celebrations on a nationwide scale in 1997. Despite its distinguished past, the PSI finds itself hard-pressed at mobilising public interest. MF |
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