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Stamp of knowledge

B. Kesavan has been preserving his father's rare collection of over 10,000 stamps

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

LEAFING THROUGH HISTORY Kesavan with his stamp collection

Snail mail is how most people refer to letters delivered by the postman. But many belonging to the older generation still religiously send a postcard or an inland letter to relatives and friends. And many of them preserve letters and read them over and over again. For, one cannot just delete these like you do with emails.

Handwritten posted letters not only have sentimental value but are also a treasure trove of information about people, places, animals and environment. The postage stamps that bring them to you contain a lot of information that you can convert to knowledge. B. Kesavan, a resident of Lawspet area in Pondicherry, is a mine of information. Ask him the name of any country, tiny island, when King George V ruled or what the currency of a particular country is and he has the answers on his fingertips.

A former employee of the Department of Telephones and an accomplished Carnatic vocalist, he has a rare collection of over 10,000 stamps that belong to his father, G. Bangaruswamy Naidu, who was with the Cluny Rubber Estate incorporated with Harrison Crossfield, Malaysia. "We were there at the estate during the World War II and the Japanese occupation of Malaysia. My father was an avid stamp collector. Sometimes he would even buy them. In fact, he was the seventh in the list of philately enthusiasts and the Sultan of Malaysia was the first," recalls Kesavan, who has preserved with care his father's collection for over 50 years now.

When someone mentions the word "stamp" his eyes light up and he starts talking animatedly. His wife, Jayalakshmi Kesavan, says, "It seems my father-in-law used to even sell off my mother-in-law's gold jewellery to buy stamps. But later, he would buy her new jewellery."

Adds Kesavan, "My father started the collection in the early 1920s. After the world war, we came back to India. We had lost most of our wealth. When my father was on the deathbed, he told me that the only wealth that he is leaving behind are his stamps and that I should not sell them at any cost. And I have kept my word. His collection includes rare stamps such as a 70 cent Belgium stamp with the head of the King that has been printed upside down." He proudly shows you the stamp.

Another rare stamp that he has is a one-farthing stamp of 1940 from the West Indian Island of Dominica. It is unusual because it was issued only once by Dominica. It has the image of King George VI. Dominica is the first island discovered by Columbus on his second voyage to the new world. Kesavan has stamps from almost all the countries.

"Though I was quite young when my father started his collection, later I started taking interest. They triggered in me a liking for history and geography. I used to sit and study the atlas and learn even about the tiniest kingdoms and countries."

He joined the Department of Telephones as a coolie but later rose to the level of a supervisor. He has a daughter Anuradha and two sons Mahendra and Narendran. His daughter has learnt a lot about stamps from Kesavan and helps him maintain the collection.

DEEPA H RAMAKRISHNAN

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