New stamps on Christmas

To be issued on November 1, 2008

Hi ! Christmas is the biggest festival celebrated all over the world with great joy and enthusiasm. In the last week of December, people are in festive mood , enjoying and celebrating the Chistmas in a great way. In fact it is the time in all parts of the world for merry making and people wait eagerly for this time to come for whole year.Canada Post's new stamps to be issued on 1st November to recognize the uniqueness of the holiday season. As December month approaches one can hear the excited voices of children talking about the holidays. Adults are also planning holiday mailings to family and friends, and many postal administrations are issuing their Christmas stamps – a sure sign that the holiday season is just around the corner. Three of the four stamps Canada Post will issue appeal to the sacred (Hope, Joy and Peace), while the fourth, a playful rendition of a Reindeer leaping in the snow, antlers decorated with Christmas lights, speaks to the child in everyone. This is all about the Christmas and holidays. India Post issued new stamps in last two days on 12th and 13th October commemorating III Commonwealth Games 2008,Pune and Philately Day with a beautiful stamp on Post Office. In the next part of today's post an interview with Dr. Sita Bhateja, a renowned philatelist of India taken by our distinguished member and noted journalist N.Kalyani of New Delhi which was recently published in 'The Hindu'. Dr. Sita Bhateja needs no intoduction to philatelists as she is one of the most well known philatelists of India and I am really proud to publish here about Dr. Bhateja as she is not only a philatelist but a woman of substance who equally managed her career in profession and hobby and excelled in both. I was always thrilled to read about Dr. Bhateja's achievemnts and had a great desire to meet her since my college days but unfortunately I could not get a chance to meet her.But today I am so pleased to publish about her on my blog. My sincere thanks to Ms.N.kalyani for writing about her in the leading daily of India 'The Hindu'. It will enable many who are non - philatelists to know about her and also know the depth of this wonderful hobby that it is not just the hobby of kids but king of hobbies and the hobby of kings and queens. In our regular series some se-tenat FDCs from the album of Mr. Shrikant Parikh. This is all for Today ....Have a Great Time......

III Commonwealth Youth Games 2008, Pune Date of Issue : 12 October 2008

Stamp by Stamp

Sita Bhateja about her rare collection

Would Dr. Sita Bhateja, a veteran philatelist, be free for a chat? The Bangalore-based gynaecologist works at her private clinic, a 40-year-old multi-specialty one, besides running a hospital for the poor, an orphanage and a school for slum children. And there is an old age home where she gives some of her time. To one’s delight, Bhateja manages to take out time — to talk about philately.

Philately as a hobby began in her childhood, when, she recounts, she “would get Rs.10 as pocket money, with which I could do so much.” But it was only after completing her studies that she enrolled with the Karnataka Philatelic Society and engaged herself in a more systematic collection of stamps.

“My collection, from the very beginning, was the stamps of India. Subsequently, I began to specialise in the stamps of pre-Independent India. As also British stamps.” She also collects stamps with medical themes from around the world. The prestigious and very rare stamp in her collection that has been the allurement for my meeting with her is the 1854 double-colour 4-anna stamp of pre-Independence India with the inverted head of the Queen on cover. This highly prized stamp in Bhateja’s possession is square cut and on cover. She explains, “If the hexagonal stamp is, however, cut to shape, supposedly for better aesthetics, its value dips.”
Bhateja also describes an 1861 eight-anna bisect, again a pre- Independent India stamp, that is another unique and rare stamp that she possesses. “Once in a way when a 4-anna stamp was not available an 8-anna stamp would be cut in half by the post office and given out as a 4-anna stamp!”

Beginning with her participation in 1977 at Asiana 77 in Bangalore, where Bhateja received an award for her exhibit of the stamps of India, her awards over the years have multiplied. The three time president of the Karnataka Philatelic Society is also on the Advisory Committee under the aegis of the Ministry of Communication that aims at promoting philately in India.
There is one piece of advice the veteran has to offer philatelists. To not denigrate the hobby, one that is pursued with joy, to the level of awards. “Collecting stamps is for pleasure. Philately also offers so much knowledge. It is an encyclopaedia of the history of one’s country,” says Bhateja, for whom philately is an “exhilarating hobby which I get drowned in.”

The Championship Class philatelist’s thorough research on each stamp revolves around a multitude of minutiae. Participation in an international exhibition takes her two months of work, “working through the night”, she reveals. And the three time nominee for the Grand Prix, the top-most philatelic award in the world, adds, “But I won’t need a cup of coffee to keep me awake!” She also helps out “kids and young collectors when they need guidance on how to ready their exhibits”.

N.KALYANI

© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu Date:11/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/10/11/stories/2008101152011600.htm

A Joureny through Indian Stamps - FDCs of Se-tnant Stamps

From Collection of Shrikant Parikh

Centenary of the Indian National Congress - 23 December 1985

125th Anniversary of Indian Police - 21 October 1986