Dear Comrades,
PATNA: Visitors to the philately exhibition felt nostalgic to see the rare postage stamps on Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi on the premises of Rabindra Parishad on Tuesday. An Anisabad resident, Ramesh Kumar said, "Postage stamps were once integral part of our lives but the next generation would ask us, 'what is a postcard and postage stamp'."
Where for Ramesh it was a deja vu moment, Ravishankar Singh of Mithapur, who has his father's large collection of around 3000 stamps, was awed by more than 2000 rare stamps on Gandhi and Nehru on display. "My father was interested in philately. I was never too keen. But the exhibition was an enriching experience as I got to learn so many new things about Gandhi and Tagore," he said.
Organized by Rabindra Parishad in collaboration with postal department, the two-day exhibition is to commemorate the 100th year of Tagore's winning the Nobel Prize. In fact, within only few hours of its inauguration by K C Saha, chairman of Bihar Public Service Commission, more than 1,000 persons visited the exhibition. The exhibition convener, Prodipto Mukherjee, is quite optimistic regarding its impact on Patnaites.
"Since morning, we have received too many visitors and the best part is that schoolchildren are also coming. They have queries regarding the historical background of the stamps on display. I am sure the second day will be equally good," said Mukherjee.
A special cover on Tagore's last spring festival at Shantiniketan was also released on the occasion. "The festival was important not only because it was Tagore's last spring but also because Bapu and Kasturba Gandhi were the chief guests there," said Anil Kumar, marketing director, postal department.
Various books by India Post on philately are also on sale. Catching the attention of buyers are 'Nature through India Postage Stamps' and Bharat Ke Daak Ticketon Ke Madhyam Sey Bharat Ka Swadhinta Sangram'. Over 250 students from different schools of the city participated in the painting competition organized on the occasion.
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