The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
The magic of numbers or the significance
of dates has never held any fascination for me. As far as I am concerned, a
date is special, not for the combination of digits, but the events which make
it memorable. It was thus, not the date but the event and the location that
attracted me – the Postcrossing Meet at the G.P.O. Mumbai on 11.11.2011!
Postcrossing is a site for
Postcard and Philately enthusiasts, through which we send and receive postcards
from across the world. I came across the site while searching for something
interesting for Samhith to get into, but ended up becoming a postcard
enthusiast instead! I joined the site almost a year ago, but it took me quite a
while to get started, and my postcard collection is just picking up, as is my
awareness about the different facets of postcard collection as well as
philately. While I have grown up in a family of numismatists and philatelists,
I had never been very keen on either till I began collecting to teach Samhith
about coins and stamps. Joining Postcrossing was also an attempt to make him
aware of our postal system, and we have now begun sending postcards to not just
Postcrossing members, but to many friends as well! But above all, joining
Postcrossing has helped me make so many new friends, especially through the
Postcrossing India Page on Facebook! It was to meet these very people that I
rushed out early in the morning of 11/11/2011 to participate in the annual
Postcrossing Meet, in spite of the fact that I was tired and weary, having
returned from a day long trip to Bhimashankar the day before!
The location was as much of a
lure as the prospect of meeting fellow Postcrossers, for the General Post
Office (GPO) at Mumbai is a beautiful building in itself, and certainly one of
the best post offices to visit too! Unfortunately, photography is prohibited,
and I could just manage a few clicks as we waited outside for a while…. The
building, opened in 1913, is built in the Indo Saracenic style of architecture,
and took about 9 years to build!
Incidentally, the Mumbai General
Post Office is the second oldest in India – set up in the year 1794 (the oldest
is the one at Calcutta, opened in 1774!) and today, this is the biggest Post
Office in the country, catering to over 50,000 address sites, most of which are
recipients of voluminous mail (information as per the Maharashtra Post Website).
Inside, the building is a hub of
activity – which always makes me want to take photos, but here, photography is
a strict no-no! We all met at the philately section of the GPO and spent the
first hour happily browsing through First Day Covers, new stamps issued, collectors’
sets, Max Cards, and of course, picture postcards issued by India Post! The
last were easily the highlight of the trip, since they were inexpensive as well
as beautiful, depicting stamps of different categories! Needless to say, all of
returned with many of these!
The highlight of the meet was the
special cancellation designed for the special date – 11/11/11.
We all queued up
with our envelopes and postcards stamped and addressed, waiting for our turn to
get our stamps cancelled. The process itself was an interesting one, with the
lady first placing the stamp set in a wooden holder on our stamp, and then
hitting it with a mallet or hammer like thing, to make sure that the entire
cancellation was clearly visible.
Soon, everyone was busy –
addressing postcards, stamping them, writing messages, signing, and of course,
getting them cancelled! And we weren’t the only ones. Members of the Philately
Association were there too, as were numerous other individuals, most of them
drawn by the special date!
One of our Postcrossing members had come prepared with handmade postcards to send out to friends, all decorated
with the special date….
While some others were even more
obsessed with the combination, making up special envelopes with stamps released on similar dates, tickets with the same digits in the timings or even banknotes with special serial numbers! While I can admire their enthusiasm as
well as their resourcefulness, I can never see myself indulging in any such
activity – a fact which made this meet all the more memorable. After all, where
else would I meet such people?
Time flew past as we prepared the
postcards to be sent off to other members as a memento of the meet, and before I
knew it, it was time for me to leave.
The others were not through, however, and
the meet went on till late in the evening, members sharing their experiences as
well as showing off their collections. Here are some more photos of the meet….
Busy signing postcards! |
A collectible, but from another postoffice! |
A pile of stamped postcards!! It looked as if people were competing for the number of postcards they were getting cancelled!!!! |
Showing off each others' postcards! |
All set to be on their way! |
Another pile of postcards getting ready! |
The meet continued on the day
after too, for those who couldn’t make it on 11/11, but I wasn’t one of them. I
hope someone else writes up about that meet too! Meanwhile, I am eagerly
looking forward to our next meet-up.
That was a wonderful account of the meet! Thank you for bringing it on so vividly! Missed it this time. Hope to make it at the next meet!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice thing to do on a special date!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Anu. You described the whole event so well and the pics also told the entire story.
ReplyDeleteWow ! What a way to spend 11.11.11. I always knew that collecting stamps and photographs was special, but did not know how special. Loved your write-up :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Deepak! we missed u too...
ReplyDeleteYes, Mridula! it was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Sudha! i love collecting stamps, but never thought of special dates... but had so much fun this time!
ReplyDeleteIntersting Anu..!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sridharan!
ReplyDelete