Stamp of love for children

Children’s day is marked with plenty of celebrations to enthrall kids across the country. Over the years, the Indian postal department too has celebrated Children’s Day in its won way by issuing stamps to mark the day. Dakshina Kannada Philatelic and Numismatic Association President M K Krishnayya has unique collections of stamps related to Children’s Day besides stamps related to other issues.

The varieties of stamps neatly arranged in vertical and horizontal rows compiled by Philatelic Krishnayya is a treat for eyes. It shows an array of stamps brought out by the Indian Postal Department on children’s day. Krishnayya’s collection of stamps also include that of animals, flags, well- known personalities and so on.

Krishnayya has stamps dedicated to Jawaharlal Nehru that goes up to 5 to 6 pages to mark the significance of Children’s Day. The collection on Jawaharlal Nehru includes the stamps issued by the nations like Afghanistan, Senegal, Bhutan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Ghana, Guyana, Jordan, Laos, Liberia, Maldives and Qatar on the occasion of birth centenary year of the great leader. He is yet to collect varieties of stamps brought out by foreign countries on Nehru during several occasions like NAM conference, 50th year of India’s independence, summit on world peace, builders of world peace with Nasir and so on.   Speaking to City Herald, he said that the hobby is loosing its significance as more and more youth are losing touch with stamps due to modern technologies available to send messages.

“These days we rarely come across letters and most of the times we don't get stamps to collect. Earlier I used to get many stamps through letters and now I am purchasing them from Postal Departments in India and outside India,” he said adding that there is a need to create awareness on philately among school children. “The idea of stamp collection should be promoted in order to preserve the hobby from becoming extinct,” he said.

With the aim of popularising the hobby, he visits 15 to 20 schools every year with his collections to deliver talk on philately. “The hobby has enriched my knowledge as well as boosted my creative skills and hence I want the young students to realise the worth of stamp collection and the ways it can help them,” he said.

Krishnayya has been honoured with National Award many times for his wonderful collection especially on flags. The earliest dated stamp owned by Krishnayya dates back to 1832.  He has almost all stamps released by Indian Postal Department from 1947 till date. The high priced stamp owned by him is Rs 10 worth stamp on Gandhiji issued in the year 1948. Now the same stamp costs around Rs 10,000.