Stamps on Tagore and Teresa to be released soon

Kolkata: Commemorative stamps would be released by the Postal Department here to mark the 150th birth anniversary of poet Rabindranath Tagore and Mother Teresa`s birth centenary.

"Tagore wrote a play `Dakghar` (post office). As a child, he had dreamt of working in a post office," Director of GPO, Kolkata, Anil Kumar said. For the stamp on the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, research was underway to determine the best way to depict her life and service to the poor, Kumar said. Besides, the stamps, First Day Covers, diaries, greetings cards and calendars on Tagore and Teresa would be released this year, he said. There would be commemorative items too like coffee mugs which would have stamps and rare photos imprinted on them besides the messages of Tagore and Teresa. These would be available at philatelic bureaus and could be sent to collectors by parcel, VPP on orders placed through email, fax, money order and letter, said officials of the GPO, which is the regional production centre for 11 states in the east and Northeast. The postal department was hopeful that the products would be well received in Kolkata which has the highest number of 52,000 stamp collectors in the country. Kumar noted that philatelic products on actor Uttam Kumar and magician P C Sorkar sold well. Also sold were over 10,000 calendars on Lord Krishna from the Krishnagar post office in Nadia district where there was a sizeable Vaishnavite population. Nehru Stamp Clubs would be set up in schools with infrastructure and back-up from the postal department, the director said. "We want to bring people closer to stamps which depict the culture, life, history, heritage and development of the country," he said. PTI