Virtual Philatelic Exhibition by Goa Philatelic & Numismatic Society

My Room My Muesum

 Virtual Philatelic Exhibition by Goa Philatelic & Numismatic Society : 18th May 2020

https://bit.ly/3cr6TEM

Through the course of our lives, we bide our time doing particular tasks that may either help us to earn our living or build the staircases to our futures and careers. However, amidst these compulsory tasks, most of us also do things which we enjoy doing. Such activities are called ‘hobbies.’

Hobbies are activities which help us escape the daily grind of life and work and give us pleasure and peace of mind. Because we are not being ordered to perform certain jobs which we may not be fond of, hobbies help to inculcate an appreciation for work rather than driving us away from it.

The interesting thing about hobbies is that they dramatically improve our own personalities and character traits, therefore improving our performances better on the whole. They help us discover talents and abilities which we may never have known ourselves to possess, also giving us an insight of all the elements around us, making us learn new things each day. For instance, hobbies like stamp collecting, bird watching, photography, sports and music make our time worthwhile and give us information about different things.

Pandemic & innovative ways to exhibit

Several participants including children & adults alike, turnout with their exhibits at Goa Science Center at Miramar, Panaji to showcase their hobbies & interests on 18th May every year to commemorate International Museum Day.

This year, due to ongoing Covid-19 pandemic & all across the world observing lockdown & social distancing, Goa Philatelic & Numismatic Society, while keeping everyone's safety in mind have come up with an innovative way to utilize the Facebook's Social Media Platform to showcase our hobbies digitally by way of Virtual Exhibition called MY ROOM MY MUSEUM, the exhibits will include personal collections of stamps, coins, banknotes & some other interesting items. The digital platform will help us reach a wider audience not only in Goa but all across the world.

Exhibition Highlights

The exhibits are divided into three Categories:

a)     Philately (Stamps & stamps related),

b)     Numismatic (Coins & Banknotes) and

c)     Other categories.

Museum Day Commemoration

Every year on 18 May International Museum Day is observed to raise awareness among people about the museums as an important means of cultural exchange and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among people.

The 2020 theme - Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion

International Museum Day: History

In 1977, the International Museum Day was created by the International Council of Museums (http://imd.icom.museum). Every year this organisation chooses a separate theme and co-ordinated every year. Some of the themes focus on the globalization, indigenous peoples, bridging cultural gaps, caring for the environment etc. On this day, since 1977, every year all the museums of the world are invited to participate and promote the role of museums in the world by organising several activities which are focused on the theme. Do you know that in 2009, International Museum Day attracted the participation of 20,000 museums hosting events in more than 90 countries? In 2010, 98 countries participated, 100 countries in 2011 participated and in 2012 around 30,000 museums from 129 countries participated.

Facebook Page Link

The link for our Facebook Page https://bit.ly/3cr6TEM, the Virtual Exhibition will go Live on  18th May, 2020.

GPNS HISTORY

In Goa we had philatelists & numismatics but the organisation required to help them to develop this hobby was absent. In 1974 a few like minded enthusiasts came together at the residence of Shri. V. R. Navelkar at Margao to fulfill the long felt need to unite the philatelists and the numismatists of Goa under one banner and form a society and finally, on 27/04/1975 in Margao the society to be called as "The Goa Philatelic and Numismatic Society" was formed. The society has got its own constitution and it is affiliated to Philatelic Congress of India, New Delhi since 1979.

Shri Pratapsingh Rane, the then Law Minister, formally inaugurated the society on 20.12.1975 and it was during this time that the society had arranged the first official exhibition in Margao at the Municipal Hall. This exhibition had a section on Numismatology and it was well attended.

The main objectives of the society were

1.         To arrange exhibitions and competitions

2.         To arrange film shows, talks and demonstrations on the subject

3.         To publish a periodical

4.         To approach the concerned authorities to provide special cancellations (FDC) in

  Goa

5.         To request Government authorities to provide facilities for developing these hobbies in Goa

Since, inception, Goa Philatelic & Numismatic Society (GPNS) have organised many exhibitions named GOAPEX-77 (15-17 May 1977), GOAPEX 81 (18-20 Dec. 1981), GOAPEX 1983 (25-27 Nov. 1983), GOAPEX-1995, GOAPEX, 2014 and GOAPEX 2019.

An Ayush Festival of Stamps was held on 17^th and 18^th October, 2017at ESG, Panjim in collaboration with Ayush Ministry, Department of Posts and GPNS. About 50 frames on various Ayush themes, such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homepathy along with the Health themes were exhibited by senior philatelists such as Shri V R Navelcar, Dr.M.R.Ramesh Kumar, Mrs R R Radha Bai, Shri Sheik Samiruddin, Roland De Melo, Ashelsh Kamat and Avinash Anaokaretc

 The GPNS along with the Department of Posts, Panaji, Goa paid a humble homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150^th Birth Anniversary, from 2^nd to 4^th October, 2019 by displaying 65 frames on Gandhi and Goan Culture and Heritage by well philatelists such as Shri V.R.Navelcar, Dr.M.R.Ramesh Kumar, Shri SheilkSamiruddin, Mrs R R Radha Bai, V.R.Navelcar and Shri Roland De Melo.

-Dr. M.R. Ramesh Kumar

President,
Goa Philately and Numismatics Society,

Email : rameshkumar.mr@gmail.com

40th Anniversary of Eradication of Smallpox

Date of issue : 8 May 2020

The UNPA issued a commemorative stamp on  8th May 2020 to commemorate 40th Anniversary of Eradication of Smallpox.

The World Health Organization commemorated the 40th anniversary of smallpox eradication in December 2019, recognizing the historic moment on 9 December 1979 when the end of smallpox was confirmed to have been eradicated. Five months later, in May 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly issued its official declaration that ‘the world and all its peoples have won freedom from smallpox’.

A plaque marking the end of a scourge that had afflicted millions for thousands of years was unveiled at WHO headquarters in Geneva in the very same meeting room where, four decades earlier, the 19 members of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication certified that smallpox had been eradicated from the world.

Until it was wiped out, smallpox had plagued humanity for at least 3000 years, killing 300 million people in the 20th century alone. The last known endemic case of smallpox was reported and the outbreak promptly contained in Somalia in 1977.

The successful smallpox eradication programme yielded vital knowledge and tools for the field of disease surveillance, the benefits of ring vaccination and the importance of health promotion in fighting diseases such as poliomyelitis and the Ebola virus. It also laid the foundation for stronger national immunization programmes worldwide, underpinning the establishment of primary health care in many countries and creating momentum toward Universal Health Coverage.

Philatelic Tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

159th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore and The Post Office - a Philatelic Tribute by noted philatelist and artist Shri Dipok Dey is a beautiful book on stamps and other philatelic items issued on Nobel Laureate Gurudev  Rabindranath Tagore all over the world. Sharing here some pages from this book.

Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to win Nobel Prize, was born on 7 May 1861 in Kolkata. This year marks the 159th birth anniversary of Tagore. Every year, his birth anniversary is observed as Rabindra Jayanti across the country.

Rabindranath Tagore, one of the most celebrated and revered polymaths India ever had left behind a rich legacy of work inspiring generations across the globe. Tagore, also known as Gurudev played a pivotal role in shaping the Bengali literature, art and music. On his 159th birth anniversary,sharing here some facts about him,

-Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen surviving children. He was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Unfortunately, his mother died at an early age and father travelled widely for work. He was nicknamed as Rabi.

--Interestingly, the Tagore family was at the forefront of the Bengal renaissance. Their family published literary magazines; theatre and recitals of Bengali and Western classical music featured regularly.

--Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. It was for the beautifully written Gitanjali.

Rabindranath Tagore is the only known person to have written the national anthems for two different countries - Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem for India; and Amar Sonar Bangla, the national anthem for Bangladesh. According to some historians, however, the Sri Lankan national anthem too was based on a Bengali song originally written by Tagore in 1938. It was translated into Sinhalese and adopted as the national anthem in 1951.

--Tagore had a unique vision for school training which he conceptualised and named the school Visva-Bharati. Tagore employed a brahmacharya system: gurus gave pupils personal guidance—emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Teaching was often done under trees. He staffed the school, contributed his Nobel Prize money, and his duties as steward-mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy: mornings he taught classes; afternoons and evenings he wrote the students' textbooks. He fundraised widely for the school in Europe and the United States between 1919 and 1921.

--Tagore's Nobel Prize was stolen from the safety vault of the Visva-Bharati University, along with several other of his belongings on March 25, 2004. However, on December 7, 2004, the Swedish Academy decided to present two replicas of Tagore's Nobel Prize, one made of gold and the other made of bronze, to the Visva-Bharati University. 

180 years of Penny Black

180 years of world's First Postage stamp - Penny Black

The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of Queen Victoria.

180th Anniversary of the Penny Black Stamp Sheet

A special stamp sheet issued by Royal Mail today on the 6th May 2020 to mark to the day the 180th anniversary of the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black. It contains 25 x First Class Penny Black gummed stamps as first issued in 2015.

This special stamp sheet  issued on the 6th May to mark to the day the 180th anniversary of the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black.

• Contains 25 x First Class Penny Black gummed stamps.
• Printed along the top are the actual dates of the anniversary.
• The instructions that appeared on the original Penny Black sheets are paraphrased on the left hand margin of this sheet.  
• The date on which the sheet was printed is cited on the right hand margin
• The size of the sheet is 121mm x 140mm.

New Meter Cancellations on Mahatma Gandhi

Six meter cancellation based on Mahatma Gandhiji were provided during Tumakurupex 2020 held from 21st to 24th  February 2020.

1.  Peace through Non-Violence.

2.  Anekata mein Ekta - Mera Bharat Mahan.

3.  Live and Let Live.

4.  Vande Mataram.

5.  Path of Peace & Non-Violence is the Supreme Religion.

6.  Non-Violence is Virtue of Strong.

- Suresh R, Bangalore : email - suresh.hobbies@gmail.com

Club News

Rainbow Stamp News May 2020

Dear Reader,

I have just published May 2020 issue of Rainbow Stamp News. It is available on following link :

https://rainbowstampnews.blogspot.com/2020/05/rainbow-may-2020.html