It was sometime in the year 1994-95 when I was a teenager and a 7th standard school going boy when one of my school mate showed me few colorful and attractive stamps pasted in his elder brother’s diary. I still remember the time….I had instantly fallen in love with those small pieces of paper.
I had requested that guy if he could give me one from his (his brother’s actually) stock, but he had denied. It was pretty heart breaking for me. But his denial had made me resolute to have my very own collection. That was the time when this craziness had slowly and steadily built-up inside me and soon it developed into a strong interest area for me.
It was mid 90’s and the Internet had not entered into every household by then. Especially for a school going boy getting access to internet was a difficult task. So it was not so easy for me to collect information about stamp collection. Moreover stamp collection is such a specialized interest area that not everyone had the adequate knowledge or background about it during those days in my locality. It’s funny but true that after long time I came to know that what I am crazy for is called ‘Philately’.
I started tapping all possible sources to get some information about stamp collection…..but mostly I got no proper answer s to my questions and even was discouraged by most of the people. But it did not deter me from my passion of stamp collecting.
During those days the best way to collect stamps was from letters, as sending letter was very much in practice during those days. So it was my first trusted and effective source of stamp collection like all other philatelist. I use to request my neighbor, my relatives, my friends and my teachers to not throw away any envelops or cards bearing a stamp. I was so much addicted that I use to pick envelops or cards from road sides or even from dustbins which was carrying a stamp!!! But believe me it did not bring in any embarrassment, rather it use to give me a feeling of joy and ultimate satisfaction after getting a new stamp in my hand. The more difficult the acquiring method the more satisfaction it would guarantee.
Buying stamp was not so easy for me at that time. Money was a big challenge, and above all nonchalant behavior of the post office person (he appeared to be busy all the time and always asked me to come after a few days). I belonged to a small town where scope, information, source and seriousness about philately were very less, and it was same for many other stamp collectors at that time. But still the joy of getting a new stamp had always inspired all the stamp collectors, and I am sure that it will never fade away in coming so many years.
After completion of my graduation it was the darkest phase in my stamp collection history……I lost almost 80% of my collection due to some unfortunate event. It resulted in such a strong mental setback and grief that I had forced myself to move away from stamps as it was pretty much disheartening and painful to see my ruined collection which I had nurtured through my growing up years.
But time had its own plan…..after almost 10 years some one encouraged me again…some one convinced me again to stop and think about my old passion. And gradually as a result of which the old craziness began to flow through my veins again. Thanks to my better-half, my wife for the encouraging support and having faith in my dream. She got me the first stamp album after all these years. The blog is dedicated to her.
I have set up this blog space to reach out to all those crazy souls like me who believe in this never dying passion of Philately. I will be sharing a lot of personal experiences, information and interesting stuffs related to Philately. I also want all my readers to share their thoughts and experiences with me (use the forum space)so that both sides are enriched through the exchange.
It’s Philately Time……Happy Collecting Guys
No comments:
Post a Comment