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Stamping his love for the game
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Fr. Tom John's World Cup is brimming with stamps
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COLLECTOR'S CHOICE Fr. Tom John and some of the stamps from his football collection
Father Tom John loves waiting for the mail. And these days these waits have become exciting. The football World Cup football is set for to kick off and Fr. John tarries for the brand new set of commemorative stamps to come from Germany. "A friend of mine has promised to send them and they must be on the way. It will be a definitive addition to my collection. I hoped that it would reach me before the event began. Now I'll be able to get them only during the course of the event," says Fr. John who has a collection of 200 stamps on football from 102 countries.
What makes these thematic collections interesting are the stamps from diverse countries like Mongolia, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Zambia and valuable information that they pass on. "There is this stamp from Monaco that has the picture of the historic Wembley Stadium and there are others, like the whole set brought out in South Korea during the last edition of this event. When countries like Bangladesh have come out with beautiful World Cup stamps, India has not yet published one. The only one Indian stamp on football that I have in my collection is on the Mohun Bagan centenary," says Fr. John who was in the city on his annual vacation.
Not just a hobby
The stamp collection is not just a hobby for Fr. John. It is more than a passion, it is his prized possession; the little pieces of paper are his loved ones. He would have loved to carry them wherever he went but they have grown so large, 46,000 at the last count, that he has now stacked some away at his home in Pala. He now takes only some of his thematic collections. "Like everyone the collection began in a small way. I must have been in the ninth standard then. Before this it was collecting match-box labels. Sorting and arranging stamps according to specific themes came much later. My first thematic collection was on Christmas. Now I have stamps on various themes like flowers, animals, cars, sports personalities, locomotives, Greek paintings, political figures, festivals, maps, cricket, important days like Women's Day, independence day of various countries and so on. My favourite is, however, my stamps on Princess Diana. I have around 1,000 stamps on Diana that traces every stage of her life."
Fr. John is now assistant vicar at a small church in a small village called Malam Naotoli, a few kilometres from Chainpur in Gumtla district in Jharkhand. "There are no roads, electricity or telephones here. Once you reach here it is lovely with long stretches of green, trees, clean air and sparkling water. You get disconnected with the world except for the newspapers and the letters that I get from my many friends and relatives. Whenever I feel lonely, out of touch with the world outside, I take refuge in my stamps. It brings me in touch with places, people and most significantly memories associated with each one of them."
But this lack of communication does affect his hobby. He very often fails to know about the new stamps and has not been able to be a member of a philatelic club. "My collection has been built mainly through the help of my friends and relatives. They know that I have this crazy hobby and so send me regular letters with new stamps. Most of the gifts they give me are stamps, which is more valuable to me than anything else. Since, I'm not a member of a club, exchange of stamps is not usually possible. I have also spent a lot of money to buy stamps."
Fr. John has plans to conduct an exhibition of his stamps. "This is what I want to do though I'm not ready yet. It will cost me at least Rs. One lakh to put up all my stamps and a couple of sponsors have promised help. But for this I'll need time. I'm getting old, but I will do it soon."
K. PRADEEP
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