My journey through stamps started 11 years ago when I was 7, my uncle had handed me over his stamp collection as he had noticed my great interest in history and geography.
At that stage I had no idea how diverse they could be and a little could I research about them.
One of the most memorable times I’ve had with my stamp collection is when I brought it to school for the ‘show and tell’ activity. It was something unique compared to what the other children had brought. With time I started to lose interest and eventually forgot about my stamps.
This lockdown turned out to be an excellent opportunity to start something left behind. My dad started painting again after 28 years and seeing that, I followed his footsteps and got hold of my stock book. Initially I had thought of just adding on to the collection as a hobby, but no great story ends with something being just a hobby.
When stamps became my passion from just a hobby, I realized that these pieces of art can actually teach a lot about cultures and traditions across the world, history, geography and more importantly people who need to be remembered for their contributions to the society.
I received a good response from my peers and quite a few of them saw postage stamps for the first time. It was like show and tell for me again after 11 years.
It has turned out to be a great learning experience because I’m sure I would have never come across information that I encounter on a day to day basis while researching for my stamp stories like the colonial history of Congo or something about a Chilean statesman, the topics are as diverse as these stamps are.
I think the diversity of stamps can even help the audience find interests like I’m sure if a little kid sets eyes on a stamp with a space shuttle from the space race era or a stamp from the Olympic games, it can help ignite the passion for knowing more and more about them and you never know what you end up liking or in fact even pursuing as a career.
I’m sure none of my friends must’ve ever thought of Darsh being a Philatelist, even my parents were surprised when they discovered this passion of mine. Well, you don’t know what life holds in store for you. It has been pretty rewarding for me as it is broadening up my horizon of knowledge.
In the end I would like to share this stamp which is from my earliest collection. I considered it to be the most precious one as when I was a kid its unique rhombus shape and large size intrigued me.
This stamp from Mongolia was issued to commemorate the International Year of the Child- 1979.
And that’s my philatelic journey till date.
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