Sivaji Ganesan, Actor - Indian Stamp

An iconic presence in Tamil cinema for five decades, Sivaji Ganesan (1928-2001) is one among the most charismatic film actors of all time. He also served as a member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from 1983 to 1986. Many awards and distinctions were conferred on this multifaceted personality, prominent among them being the Padma Bhushan (1984), Chevalier of Arts title of the French Government (1995) and the Dada Sahen Phalke Award (1996).

I will always remember his performances in Veerapandiyan Kattabomman, Manohara, Thiruvilayadal, and the recent Padayappa. There are many others which i am not citing. Nevertheless, Sivaji Ganesan was one of the most brilliant and 'original' actors ever present in the Tamil Film Industry.

More about him here.

 

Date of Issue  :     01.10.2001

Balloon Stamps - Guine Bissau

Guine Bissau is a country in West Africa. To more about the country and its past and present head here.

The following are a set of 3 thematic stamps based on balloons issued by the Republic of Guinea Bissau. I guess it is a set of 7 stamps out of which i have 3.  I would love to get the other 4 from this set (do let me know if you want to swap :) ).

Dogs - Rasal Khaima

Ras-Al-Khaimah is one of the seven emirates. Ras al Khaima was the last of the Trucial States to issue its own stamps. Its first set was a definitive series that was issued on 12 December 1964. Ras al Kaimah agreed to join the United Arab emirates on 11 February 1972. More about Ras-al-Khaimah here.

 
Though the stamps feature the name as "Rasal Khaima", i guess the actual name is "Ras-Al-Khaimah".

I have not been successful in knowing more about this set of 6 stamps, but i do see that in 1971 this emirate issued a set of stamps on dogs - which are not the same as this set.

Indian Princely States - [NEW] Indian Stamp

This is a set of 4 commemorative stamps based on the erstwhile Pincely states of India, namely : Indore (Holkar) , Bamra , Sirmoor and Cochin.  I simply loved the design of the stamps and the way they are over printed.  Also, the way colors are used to showcase the heritage is notable.

A Princely State (also called Native State or Indian State) was a nominally sovereign[1] entity of the Empire of India which was not administered by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler, while the British Crown had suzerainty or paramountcy, completely controlled the state's external relations and exercised a degree of indirect rule over its internal affairs, varying in scope from one state to another. 

Out of the 560+ princely states, I hear that only 40 odd had postal systems and issued stamps.
More on Princely States of India can be read here and here.

I will be getting the miniature sheet of this soon, as i am pretty sure this would be a collector's masterpiece in the near future.

9 Pies Indian Stamp

This is probably the oldest stamp from India in my collection. It is damaged, nevertheless, i like it.
I think it is George V or George VI in it. I need to collect more from the olden pre-independence era.

Low Denomination Post-Independance Indian Stamps

Those were the days when we had the 5p, 10p, 25p and the beautiful 20p coins and the associated stamps!

P.C.Sorcar, Magician - Indian Stamp

Was pleasantly surprised to find this new stamp. Magicians are an important part of our culture and generation; for they are an integral part of our upbringing - especially towards imagination. How can one forget the magic shows that we used to yearn when we were kids :) I did get the privilege of watching Jr.P.C.Sorcar perform in Chennai(guess it was in the Music Academy Auditorium) once - i guess i was in 9th standard then, and simply loved the show and was filled with awe.

From Wikipedia:

P.C. Sorcar (23 February 1913 - 6 January 1971) was the stage name of Protul Chandra Sorcar, a famous Indian magician. He was an internationally active magician throughout the 1950s and 1960s, performing his Indrajal show before live audiences and on television.

Details:
Date of Issue : 23-Feb-2010
Stamps Printed : 0.4 million
Printing process: Wet Offset
Related News Article : here

Stamps from SriLanka

During our recent visit to SriLanka, i was surprised to see that people use the postal system(snailmail) quiet often; atleast i could see quiet a bit of crowd in most post-offices that i could spot from the buses. I happened to see a pretty big Post Office in Kandy, and wanted to get some stamps and first day envelopes(if at all SriLanka had it) for my collection. We had a terrible time crunch, and i never stepped into any of the post-offices, Alas!

But what came as an even bigger surprise was the small outlet of the SriLankan Post Office in the airport which I stumbled upon by chance. They had a pretty good collection of stamps(both used and not-used) and were selling it at the same rate - i.e, 5LKR per stamp. I picked up a few, and the following is an honest attempt in publishing them in the public domain and sharing the knowledge with others.

When i was browsing through their collection, i saw a large quantity of stamps depicting birds; the person also was selling a set of 20-40 bird-stamps for around 400-500LKR; i preferred buying in the loose and 'form my own collection' than buying it as a set. I do not like the idea of buying a 'set' of stamps - it looks very 'pre-configured' to me.

From top -left to bottom(go along the reading direction) : Coucal, Arenga, Blue Flycatcher, Hill Mynah, Oriole, Rufous Babbler, Head Laughing Thrush, Blue Magpie, Layard's Parakeet, Yellow Fronted Barbet, Yellow Eared Bulbul, Lorikeet, Slender Loris, Leopard, Lyre Head Lizard

Two main tourist attractions in SriLanka are their nature and ruins; and this has been adequetly presented in their philatelic collections. The coins and statues unearthed from the ruins in Anuradhapura and Pollanurawa have been suitably captured and presented. Also, you can see the beautiful natural reserves of Hortan plains and Knuckles.

The rectangular photo in the third row in the following picture is probably the longest stamp that i have in my whole collection.

I was presently surprised to find the following 2 stamps : on Tsunami disaster in 2004 and the other on Corruption. I am not sure whether India has a stamp on Corruption, but this was a welcome surprise to me. Also, another trivia : Dec-9 is the International Anti-Corruption Day(nice!).

SriLanka also has some interesting stamps of different patterns; though i do have triangular and diamond shapes of a few countries, am stumbling on a trapezoidal shape(the middle one) for the first time. Sports and Cricket are the themes in many stamps.

In fact, the person in the booth wanted to sell a commemorative collection of stamps on Muthaiah Muralitharan's (collector's edition) for 220LKR, but i somehow, did not buy it.

I hope to take pictures of my stamp collection and post some interesting stamps in here. I guess, i would learn lots of aspects of philately during the due course and also meet interesting people in this community and exchange , which is the most crucial aspect to this hobby.