Do you know the name of the first postage stamp to be released? Or why India has a postage stamp with a penguin on it, even though there are no penguins in our country? While these questions are bound to stump the lay man, Sai Vignesh, a Class 6 student will tell you that the first stamp to be released was Penny Black in the year 1940, while his friend Harsha, a Class 8 student, delves into the ‘mystery of the penguin stamp’.
“Whenever researchers from India go on an expedition to Antarctica, the portion of land where they research is assigned to us, and penguins inhabit that area. So, though penguins are not part of our national heritage, they find a place on our stamps,” says Harsha.
Winning accolades for their school with their love for philately comes easy to Sai Vignesh and Harsha, students of Calibre Academy, Royapettah, who were placed second in the philately quiz conducted recently by the Indian Post and Philately Bureau, in connection with the national postal week.
The duo had to beat stiff competition from 18 contestants from eight schools to register their win, says Sai Vignesh.“Some of the questions were really difficult but since we had read up about the history of stamps we were able to answer them,” he adds.
For Harsha, the credit for his new-found love of philately goes to his mentor PS Seshadri, renowned philatelist who cultivated his interest through engaging lectures at the school.
“Initially I was not interested in collecting stamps. I was more into coin collection. But once I got to know that every stamp has a story to tell, I began creating albums and now I already have three albums full,” grins Harsha, with excitement of a serious philatelist written all over his face.