Stamp by Stamp
Sita Bhateja about her rare collection
Would Dr. Sita Bhateja, a veteran philatelist, be free for a chat? The Bangalore-based gynaecologist works at her private clinic, a 40-year-old multi-specialty one, besides running a hospital for the poor, an orphanage and a school for slum children. And there is an old age home where she gives some of her time. To one’s delight, Bhateja manages to take out time — to talk about philately.
Philately as a hobby began in her childhood, when, she recounts, she “would get Rs.10 as pocket money, with which I could do so much.” But it was only after completing her studies that she enrolled with the Karnataka Philatelic Society and engaged herself in a more systematic collection of stamps.
“My collection, from the very beginning, was the stamps of India. Subsequently, I began to specialise in the stamps of pre-Independent India. As also British stamps.” She also collects stamps with medical themes from around the world. The prestigious and very rare stamp in her collection that has been the allurement for my meeting with her is the 1854 double-colour 4-anna stamp of pre-Independence India with the inverted head of the Queen on cover. This highly prized stamp in Bhateja’s possession is square cut and on cover. She explains, “If the hexagonal stamp is, however, cut to shape, supposedly for better aesthetics, its value dips.”
Bhateja also describes an 1861 eight-anna bisect, again a pre- Independent India stamp, that is another unique and rare stamp that she possesses. “Once in a way when a 4-anna stamp was not available an 8-anna stamp would be cut in half by the post office and given out as a 4-anna stamp!”
Beginning with her participation in 1977 at Asiana 77 in Bangalore, where Bhateja received an award for her exhibit of the stamps of India, her awards over the years have multiplied. The three time president of the Karnataka Philatelic Society is also on the Advisory Committee under the aegis of the Ministry of Communication that aims at promoting philately in India.
There is one piece of advice the veteran has to offer philatelists. To not denigrate the hobby, one that is pursued with joy, to the level of awards. “Collecting stamps is for pleasure. Philately also offers so much knowledge. It is an encyclopaedia of the history of one’s country,” says Bhateja, for whom philately is an “exhilarating hobby which I get drowned in.”
The Championship Class philatelist’s thorough research on each stamp revolves around a multitude of minutiae. Participation in an international exhibition takes her two months of work, “working through the night”, she reveals. And the three time nominee for the Grand Prix, the top-most philatelic award in the world, adds, “But I won’t need a cup of coffee to keep me awake!” She also helps out “kids and young collectors when they need guidance on how to ready their exhibits”.
N.KALYANI
© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu Date:11/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/10/11/stories/2008101152011600.htm
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