Ekla Chalo Re
“Ekla Chalo Re”- a six day philatelic exhibition was organized by Department of Post India ,West Bengal circle, at Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata from 16-21 November 2019.The main theme of the exhibition was “Celebrating 150 years of Gandhi.”In the invitee class exhibits were only on M.K.Gandhi. In the competitive class under Thematics there were various interesting topics on display like Penguin, Fascinating World of Maps, Musical Soiree, Jewelry –an impulse to adorn, etc.
Under Traditional philately - India and Indian Princely States the exhibits displayed were on topics such as Indian Stamp Booklet, Indian Arts and Crafts, Indian Stamps Used Outside India etc. Under Postal History displays were on , Early India Cancellation and Markings , India Refugee Relief Tax (1971-73),Stamp Age of Cooch Behar etc . Under Social Philately exhibits were on Indian culture and Heritage, Human Rights etc. There was a school collection on Mahatma Gandhi. There were few one frame exhibits also on topics such as Sheet construction of 10 Penny red, Taj Mahal, Peace Forces in Lebanon. In Revenue , Early Stamp Papers of Bengal was displayed.
Among the gold winners were Dr. Debashish Roy, Aditya Singhania , Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Aranya Dutta Chowdhury and others . Silver medal was won by Shiv Kumar Bagla, Moloy Sarkar, Eeshita Basu ,Arup Kumar Ghosh, Soumen Chowdhury and others.
Among the bronze winners are Nabendu Bhadra, Sudipto Ghosh and others. During the exhibition a huge number of 13 special covers were released . They were mostly on Gandhiji ,Tagore, Netaji , musicians, film and sports personality , authors and Kolkata Tramways.
For the first time Picture Postcards were integrated as a group for exhibitors. Though every measures were taken , still as a philatelist and a participant I felt somewhere the glamour of philately was missing in the event with most senior and eminent philatelists missing during this mega event. It actually reminded me of the bygone days when there would be healthy interaction between the senior philatelists and the new comers.
Somewhere I felt the teaching- learning was not happening with the absence of constructive workshops, interactive sessions , newsletters etc. On the contrary only show-off ism of those very new comers was prominent who instead of learning have started teaching and wish to be a judge soon . Their main aim was to grab the attention of the media and the mass. Absence of senior philatelists was a loss for the viewers as well as the juniors. Moreover most of the exhibitors were also not present to explain their exhibits. Many exhibits were wrong i.e. the topic and the exhibit did not match at all. Even in the jury report it was clearly mentioned that except few the level of philatelic display has gone down and that it is the duty of the senior philatelists to train the newcomers properly as to how to study and exhibit any philatelic material .The jury didn’t even like the venue, as it was congested and had inadequate facilities for such a mega show to conduct. There were other controversies also as exhibitors participated in both invitee class and competitive class.
- Eshita Basu Roy, Kolkata email : eeshita2015@gmail.com 
