A long journey with stamps

Meet Sushil Mehra, 73, who pursues his passion for stamps and postal covers even in the Internet era. He tells Shraddha A K how a whim sparked his hobby, and what separates a collector from a hoarder

The year was 1969. Sushil Mehra, then in Class 11, accompanied his father to the Gandhi Centenary Exhibition in Delhi, where his family lived. The show traced Mahatma Gandhi’s life and legacy through photographs, documents, and memorabilia. Amid the displays was an unusually crowded counter. Curious, Mehra went to see what was happening. “Gandhi stamps,” someone said. The Indian postal department was selling commemorative stamps issued specially for the centenary. On an impulse, Mehra joined the line. He bought four stamps (20 paise, 75 paise, Re 1, and Rs 5) along with commemorative coins of 20 paise, 50 paise, and Re 1.

Back home, Mehra peeled the stamp off the first day cover (FDC). Only later did someone explain to him that he had made a mistake. A first day cover is an envelope affixed with a newly issued postage stamp, cancelled on the day of its release, and is considered a collectible. The mistake embarrassed him, but it also sparked his curiosity about stamps. Why were people fascinated by tiny pieces of paper, printed in bulk, passed briefly from hand to hand, then torn off and discarded?

Today, Mehra will tell you that collecting stamps is not merely about accumulating paper. It is about curating history in miniature. Stamps record wars, freedom movements, and peace treaties. They celebrate cultural pride, sporting milestones, and scientific and infrastructural feats. They draw attention to causes such as wildlife conservation, child welfare, and gender equality.

Stamps, he adds, are among the most thought-out objects a nation issues and are rich in symbolism. The 1969 commemorative Gandhi stamps were released when a young, independent India was reaffirming the principles of non-violence and social justice. “Gandhi is a popular subject for stamp collectors around the world. Those 1969 stamps inspired many countries to issue their own stamps honouring Gandhi,” recalls the 73-year-old philatelist. The stamps he picked up on a whim as a schoolboy are now part of his larger Gandhi collection, which won an award at the Australian Virtual Philatelic Exhibition last November.

Mehra now lives in Bengaluru. He was the immediate past president (2024-25) of the Karnataka Philatelic Society. He has over 10,000 stamps and 1,000 picture postcards in his collection. And they reflect the story of India across the second half of the 20th century till date. Notable among them are 1971 refugee relief stamps, all post-Independence Indian stamps, Tilak centenary stamps, picture postcards from the British India period, and meter frank covers dating back to the colonial era. A meter frank is a machine-printed imprint that shows postage has been paid; it is used as an alternative to traditional adhesive stamps. Mehra also has an envelope stamped with Deccan Herald-Prajavani franking. Some of his prized items have travelled to exhibitions in Thailand, Indonesia, and Germany.

Postman mentor

Mehra grew up in an era when information travelled by post. His home in Delhi was near a post office, and he would often watch letters arrive. A postman, noticing Mehra’s curiosity, became his mentor. He told Mehra about philatelic bureaus — postal counters that sell commemorative stamps and covers. “Give me the money. I will get the stamps for you,” he would say, and then cycle to the bureau and return with stamps. But his pocket money was too meagre to keep up with his growing interest. Most stamps cost 25 paise to Re 1. Having a Rs 5 stamp was a luxury. To buy stamps, Mehra began saving small amounts he received from elders during festivals. He wasn’t looking for rare or thematic pieces, and collected everything, from Indian to foreign stamps. “I did not know what was valuable. I just wanted stamps,” he recalls. That began to change in the late 1970s, when he moved to Bengaluru.

The city had a strong culture of philatelic associations, stamp exhibitions, and study circles where collectors with niche interests met. Dr Sita Bhateja, Chaitanya Dev, Ramu Srinivasa, and Col L G Shenoi were among the prominent hobbyists of the time. From them, Mehra learned that a philatelist was not one who owned many stamps, but one who could explain why a stamp was issued and what it reflected. Collecting without studying was merely hoarding. Alongside Karnataka Philatelic Society, Sophia Tenbrook became intrumental in his philatelic journey. She was exacting in her standards. She taught Mehra restraint — what to buy, what to ignore, and how to build niche themes.

By then, Mehra had begun earning through his family business of manufacturing hardware and paint brushes. Financial independence allowed him to buy reference books. He picked up ‘Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj’, and stamp catalogues by Stanley Gibbons, and travelled to exhibitions in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. By the 1980s and ’90s, he had discovered stamp dealers who met at post offices, or ran tiny curio shops. He also began mailing money orders to collectors, specifying the stamps he wanted, and waited weeks for them to arrive.

Refugee relief tax

Today, his philately albums aren’t just inventories. They tell stories.

His ‘Meter Franks of India’ collection, spanning 5,000 covers from both the pre- and post-Independence eras, took over three decades to assemble. And some treasures he expected to be nearly impossible to find came to him easily. He was keen on a picture postcard depicting a woman operator resting her hand on a bioscope (portable, hand-cranked projector) while a man looks through it. He found it on eBay, an online marketplace. It’s his proudest find in his extensive collection on occupations in British India. The archive also features a shoelace hawker, a night watchman, and agricultural labourers.

He also has a collection of stamps and covers documenting India’s space odyssey, from the launch of its first satellite, Aryabhatta, in 1975, to the Mars mission Mangalyaan and the ongoing Chandrayaan lunar explorations of the 21st century.

Indian stamps have not only celebrated the nation’s achievements, but also served humanitarian causes. During the India-Pakistan war in 1971, millions fled from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). To support relief efforts, the Indian government issued a stamp depicting refugees on foot carrying their belongings and children. It also allowed post offices to collect a temporary 5 paisa surcharge on most mail from November 1971 to March 1973 as a refugee tax. “Each post office could put its overprint on the stamp and collect a surcharge above the stamp’s face value. These stamps, cancellations and other postal stationery are now rare, and highly sought after by collectors. They are a major area of study in philately,” says Mehra, who has 1,500 such covers. He has also recorded details like their watermark, edge perforations, and the press where they were printed. For Mehra, collecting is inseparable from research. “I like what they can tell me,” he says.

Visual history

Mehra approaches picture postcards with the same rigour he accords stamps, recording every detail, from the publisher and date of posting to the postal route it took and the message it carried.

This fascination began in his early years in Bengaluru, when he lived near City Market. While wandering on streets like B V K Iyengar Road, his eyes fell on picture postcards that vendors were selling. At first, he bought them casually, for they looked pretty. Later he would realise that picture postcards were historical narratives in their own right. Unlike stamps, which are largely symbolic, picture postcards are literal — they capture cityscapes, bazaars, and everyday life. Mehra began collecting postcards depicting the city. That would become his first major thematic collection, featuring vintage photos of the markets and streets of Bangalore Cantonment.

Over time, this collection grew into a visual history of Bengaluru and its transformation. It culminated in his first book, ‘Vintage Picture Postcards of Bangalore’, published in 2021 with guidance from historians like Suresh Moona. The publication marked a turning point. It turned his hobby from a private pursuit into public documentation. Since then, Mehra has authored about 25 books on philately, covering Indian postal history, thematic collections, special covers, and exhibitions.

His collection of 5,000-plus picture postcards from the British era, including rare pieces from European publishers, has won awards. Another notable set includes postcards on Mumbai, back when it was Bombay.

Bargains and losses

Collectors seek out stamps for many reasons — from how rare they are to how well they are preserved. Sometimes, they seek a single piece that might complete a thematic collection. Naturally, this leads to competition at auctions and exhibitions, and sometimes desperation.

Mehra recalls one collector of Air India memorabilia who negotiated hard for multiple Air India first flight covers from his collection. A first flight cover is a special envelope that is carried on the inaugural flight of a new air route. Mehra parted with them eventually, but still has some of these prized finds, including a first flight cover from Air India’s Sharjah-Mumbai service, dated March 10, 1981. That encounter struck a chord because even Mehra has regretted missing rare pieces he could not afford when they appeared on the market. “You think of the pieces you missed just as much as the ones you proudly own,” he says. There is also the disappointment of losing painstakingly acquired artefacts, sometimes to humidity, sometimes because you misplaced them.

Today, online platforms have transformed the philately world. Stamps worth Rs 25 lakh are traded and auctioned on sites such as eBay and Delcampe. Mehra also keeps a close eye on what is circulating in exhibitions online. While these developments have widened access, they have also fuelled speculation. Mehra worries that when collecting becomes investment-driven, it can hollow out scholarship. “A stamp without context is just paper,” he insists. He says he has never collected as an investor, even though some of the 750 Gandhi covers in his possession, bought for Rs 5,000 each, are now worth over a lakh apiece.

Mailed by ship

The younger generation has grown up with email and social media as its primary modes of communication, largely disengaged from physical mail. Mehra does not deny the decline of philately, but believes the hobby will endure. Collectors have always been few in number. His real concern is preservation. What happens to collections built over a lifetime? Will institutions care? Will families understand their value? Mehra is fortunate. His son, Gauresh, 42, helps design his exhibitions and assists with philatelic research, while his 10-year-old granddaughter, Rhunika, helps sort his collections.

And despite advances in communication technology, postal stamps continue to be issued actively — definitive stamps for everyday mail, service stamps for government use, and commemorative stamps to mark special occasions. “Business owners, the elderly, greeting card lovers, and philatelists still send letters. My friends send me decorative postmarks from different places. I have collected 428 such from across India, including 107 from Karnataka,” he says. A postmark is the regular stamp placed on mail to show the date and place of posting. A decorative one, called Permanent Pictorial Cancellation, carries an image, often of a local landmark, and is prized by collectors as a souvenir.

After over five decades, does Mehra ever feel he is done with the hobby? “No,” he says matter-of-factly, because “there is always a new theme one can explore”. He began with stamps, then moved on to picture postcards. He also transitioned from Gandhi to Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his postage memorabilia collection journey. “India celebrated Tilak centenary in 1953 and issued commemorative stamps. But unlike in the case of Gandhi, no other country issued stamps for Tilak, which makes them rare,” he explains.

Among his most treasured pieces is a 2-anna Tilak stamp on a cover posted aboard the merchant ship M/V Hoegh Trader. It was sent from Djibouti (then a French territory in the Middle East) to Chicago in 1957. Mehra’s research shows it is the only known Tilak stamp to have travelled on a foreign ship!

Philately in Karnataka

Philately has been active in Karnataka since the 1960s, with associations in Davanagere, Mysuru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Belagavi, Hubballi, and Mangaluru. Today, a few of these societies are still running. The Karnataka Philatelic Society (KPS) was established in March 1975, soon after KARNAPEX 75, the state’s first philatelic exhibition, was held. The then-post master general of the Karnataka Circle had urged philatelists to form an apex body for the state. But only a handful of societies chose to affiliate with KPS.

Today, it has 850 members within the state, along with some from outside. The society meets every first Sunday of the month at the General Post Office in Bengaluru, and conducts philately classes in schools. Members exhibit their collections at the Sandesh Museum of Communication, in Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru. Details on karphil.in

(With inputs from Reya Mehrotra)