Some journeys are measured in kilometres, others in the stories they leave behind. As Karnataka celebrates its rich cultural heritage on November 1, marking its 70th year, Jahanavi Divate looks back on a rather unusual journey. She travelled over 12,000 km across the state, visiting 100 post offices to collect every Permanent Pictorial Cancellation featured in Karnataka’s Philately Passport. Becoming the first person to complete this version of the passport in 75 days, she turned a philatelic challenge into an artistic exploration, documenting each destination through her paintings.
A software engineer by profession and an art-travel enthusiast, Divate wanted to discover her roots, taking roads she might otherwise never have travelled. Her introduction to philately came through her husband, who has been collecting stamps for 25 years. His stories about stamps and their origins, along with the letters he sent her from places he travelled to, gradually sparked her curiosity. “At all the 100 places I travelled to, I painted the themes, understanding the place, its essence, culture, heritage and talking to people. The entire journey was about understanding Karnataka a little better,” she says.
The idea of exploring the state had been on her mind for years. After dedicating a year to travelling across India in 2023-24, she wanted to explore the country state by state, beginning with Karnataka. The exact structure for the idea came around when she came across the Philately Passport initiative.
Released by the postal department, the passport brought together 100 Permanent Pictorial Cancellations. “When you write a letter with the stamp, they put a seal on it, which includes the date. The stamp can’t be used later and is cancelled,” Divate notes. She designed her own checklist book to track the cancellations and plan the route, but the itinerary often changed depending on post office timings and accessibility. “I have waited for 3-4 hours at some post offices. In Bidar, each post office took almost one-and-a-half hours for one cancellation. In Udupi, we visited eight post offices in a single day,” she recalls.
Her father accompanied her too, revisiting places he had lived as a child, nearly four decades ago. A government employee, her grandfather had been posted across Karnataka, and the family found themselves travelling through places that held memories of an earlier generation.
The milestone of collecting the 50th cancellation in Belagavi, where she was born and where her grandmother lives, gave her another reason to keep going. The final cancellation was obtained at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. What she had initially imagined would take three years was completed in just 75 days. “The last few days, we took it slow, getting just one cancellation a day. I wanted to be present in the place and experience it completely. When I got the 100th one, there was excitement, but I also felt that this was just the beginning of something bigger,” she says.
Her next chapter, her book titled The Road Remembers: A Journey Through Karnataka’s Art, Heritage and Philately, is set to launch on November 1, bringing together her paintings, the cancellations, the Philately Passport and stories from the journey. She is also turning her paintings into postcards.
On World Tourism Day, the Belagavi postal division also released one of her paintings as a carried picture postcard.
Beyond these, the journey has reinforced something in her, as she concludes, “I believe Karnataka is one state, many worlds. That’s why after travelling across India, I wanted to do Karnataka because I wanted to know my roots a little better.”
A Permanent Pictorial Cancellation is a special postmark featuring an image associated with a particular place, monument or heritage site. Unlike regular date cancellations, these are permanently available at designated post offices. “For instance, Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and visitors to the Hampi post office can collect a cancellation featuring the iconic Stone Chariot,” Divate says.