The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A stamp of Indian, Russian cultures

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 07, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A stamp of Indian, Russian cultures

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: From Gandhi to Czars, tigers to flowers, the stamps at the philately and numismatics exhibition that opened on Friday at the Russian Centre of Sciences and Culture reflected the culture and history of India and Russia.

Organised by the Probus Club of Chennai, the Russian Centre of Sciences and Culture and the Department of Posts (Tamil Nadu Circle), the two-day exhibition aimed at promoting universal peace and understanding through philately and numismatics.

Radhika Doraisamy, Principal Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, inaugurated the exhibition. “Stamps are not only little bits of paper, they give a window into the culture of a country,” she said. She added that stamps formed a common theme between the people of different countries.

Eminent persons from the fields of politics, literature and culture were depicted in the stamps, so were landscapes of the two countries. Stamps in remembrance of events such as the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy were also showcased.Vatsala Raghu, Member, Postal Services Board, said that with technology becoming more popular, the usage of letters had diminished. But stamps still served as a visual treat and philately remained the king of hobbies, she added.

Many stamps of the 19th century were also displayed. Stamps of dances, forms of transport, wild animals and birds of both countries formed part of the exhibition. S.I. Simakov, Director, Russian Centre of Science and Culture, said that such exhibitions were examples of the development of Russian-Indian cultural collaboration.

The South India Philatelists’ Association also participated in the exhibition, which was visited by several schoolchildren.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail