Collecting stamps was one of my favourite hobbies. But, one day as I went about with it, my father slapped me on my cheek. This happened six decades ago, when I was about nine years old.
I was introduced to stamp collection by a teacher in our school. He was called Hindi Rama Rao, because there was another person by the same name who was teaching science. Attracted by the sheer beauty of stamps, I soon took to collecting them. In my enthusiasm to gather more and more, I started cutting out stamps from postcards and inland letter cards.
My father was a lawyer in Bezawada (now Vijayawada) who, like most lawyers in those days, had his office in the front room of our house. His clerk used to sit on a straw mat with a slant top desk in an adjacent verandah.
One evening, my father was busy reading some documents in the office. The clerk and a couple of clients were also present. I went to ask him some money to buy a notebook. Deeply engrossed in his work, he didn’t notice me.
As I was trying to draw his attention, my eyes fell on a small piece of paper with a stamp affixed to it. The colour and design of the stamp was entirely different from any I had seen before. Fascinated by it, I slowly pulled the paper towards me and carefully removed the stamp.
When I was about to slip it into my pocket, the clerk noticed what I had done. “What have you done boy,” he cried! My father looked up from his desk and noticed the mischief. He promptly slapped me on my cheek. With tears rolling down my face, I left the room not knowing what crime I had committed. I came to know later that what I removed was a revenue stamp from a legal document!
Dasu Madhusudhana Rao
Email: nmdasu@gmail.com