People
The Stamp Collector:
Paramjeet Singh
An Interview by RUPINDER KAUR
S. Paramjeet Singh from Patna, Bihar, India, was recently honoured with the prestigious ‘Large Silver Medal’ by the International Exhibition on Philately, INDIPEX-2011, for his thematic collection on ‘Sikhism and Sikhs’.
Here is a brief interview with him where he talks about his passion for philately and his motivation to excel in this field.
Q (Rupinder Kaur): Sat Sri Akal, Paramjeet ji! Many congratulations for your recent acheivement. How do you feel about this great honour?
A (Paramjeet Singh): Sat Sri Akal! Thank you. I feel that this achievement has not come overnight. It involves long perseverence, visiting exhibitions, untiring efforts and constant support of friends and family.
Q: How were you motivated into philately?
A: The basic awareness about stamps came to me in my childhood days. When I was in Grade 1, we were given a project on stamps which only two children could do in the whole class and were awarded by the Principal. Next, after finishing my matriculation in 1980, I once visited my friend’s home where his younger brother showed me a stamp album. I somehow did not like the display part and decided to make my own stamp collection.
In those days people used to write letters rather than emails or phones. So a lot of letters coming home helped me. I also starting buying stamps and also exchanged if need be to increase my collection. Our postman also used to help me a lot in collecting stamps.
Q: When did you start participating in stamp exhibitions?
A: Once I visited Patna General Post Office (GPO) where the late S.P. Mukherjee, President, Bihar Philatelic Congress, guided me into exhibiting my collection. Later Dr. R.S. Gandhi, Vice-President, Philatelic Congress of India and the late N.K. Jain, a senior philatelist from Bihar, took special care to prepare the exhibit and displaying it.
I displayed my collection for the first time at Bihar Philatelic Exhibition, BIPEX-82, in two frames.
Thereafter, moving from state to national level, I exhibited at the Indian National Exhibition, INPEX-84, Delhi, in three frames. Internationally, I displayed for the first time at the International Philatelic Exhibition INDIPEX-97 and was
awarded a bronze medal. This gave to my collection an international identity. Thanks to the advice and cooperation of late the D.N. Jatia, the then President of the Federation of International Philately. Later I also exhibited my collection at the South Asia Philatelic Exhibition, NEPHIL-2001, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
In the recent Indipex-2011, I extended my collection and displayed it in five frames.
Q: What made you choose the theme on Sikhism?
A: In the beginning, I was in doldrums as what to focus in my collection. When the term ‘Thematic Philately’ came to my knowledge, sharply my faith, Sikhism, struck my mind. I put my views before the late N.K. Jain who advised me to go ahead. In my collection, I have tried to capture the essence of Sikhism, its followers, its culture, its spirit, its architecture, its sportsmanship, its patriotism and its contribution on the whole, as acknowledged and represented by
the government of our country as well as by the numerous countries of the world in pictorial form.
Q: Did you face any challenges while collecting items for your collection?
A: In the early days, whenever I visited any exhibition and tried to show this collection to people, they used to comment, “Your subject is not good, it is communal.” This criticism used to hurt me deeply. But some of my friends stood by my side through these odd times and gave me ideas to develop my theme from various perspectives. My struggle turned into a success when the very same theme was duly acknowledged by the F.I.P and also awarded.
Q: Does philately only involve the collection of stamps?
A: No, philately is a broad terminology which covers every element of postal paraphernalia, like stamps - both commemorative and definitive - first day covers, special covers, postcards, postmarks, meter marks, aerogramme, air graphs, inland letters, maximum cards and special flight covers, cinderella, meter franked covers, etc.
Q: What are your upcoming plans?
A: In the future, I want my collection to be in a book from, so that everyone who loves Sikhism and stamps can refer to it and keep it with pride on a book-shelf.
Q: How does your family look at your passion?
A: My beloved wife Sardarni Gurmeet Kaur always has stood with me at every moment in philatelic ideas, innovations and cooperation. She deserves credit for my achievements.
June 28, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: I. J. Singh (New York, U.S.A.), June 28, 2011, 11:33 AM.
Great initiative and educational too. I suppose this collection consists largely of stamps issued by independent India since 1947. I wonder if there were any issued in pre-independence India. As you know there are also a few issued by Canada and Britain. I wonder if Kenya, Malaysia or Singapore have issued stamps on Sikh themes since they have fairly large and successful Sikh communities.
2: Sandeep Singh Brar (Canada), June 28, 2011, 3:12 PM.
The only stamp every issued in pre-partition India with a Sikh theme is the 1935 Silver Jubilee of King George V stamp with an image of Darbar Sahib on it. It was one of a series of 7 stamps issued featuring various prominent structures. The complete set included: The Golden Temple, Amritsar; Gateway of India, Bombay; Victoria Memorial, Calcutta; Rameshwaram Temple, Madras; Jain Temple, Calcutta; Taj Mahal, Agra; and the Pagoda in Mandalay.
3: Morrissey (Manchester, United Kingdom), June 29, 2011, 7:28 AM.
Let us not forget the set of 8 Azad Hind stamps produced (1943) by the 3rd Reich (a.k.a. Hitler's Germany). One of the stamps features a Sikh soldier firing a machine gun.
4: Bhagwant Singh (New Delhi, India), June 30, 2011, 4:38 AM.
It gives me great pride when I see Sikhs excel in their fields ... such as this philatelist. I would urge S. Paranjeet Singh to work towards urging our postal authorities to issue more stamps on Sikh themes.
5: Gurpal Singh Bhuller (Chester, VA, U.S.A.), July 04, 2011, 2:31 PM.
It was very gratifying to see a collection of Sikh stamps reach such a high level. Congratulations, S. Paramjeet Singh ji. We look forward to your collection in book form, as you mentioned. Is there a web site where we can look at these stamps? Keep up the good work and we look forward to hearing and learning more from you. [EDITOR: We plan to start displaying such stamps, with the generous assistance of S. Paramjeet Singh ji, one a day, in the TODAY'S PHOTO box on the homepage, beginning tomorrow - Tuesday, July 5, 2011.]
6: Mandeep Singh (The Hague, Holland), July 05, 2011, 3:24 PM.
Congratulations on your achievement, Sardar ji.
7: Ajay Kumar (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.), July 06, 2011, 12:03 PM.
Nice and educative collection. A great project. Good luck.
8: Dr. R.K.Jaya Prakash (Thrissur, Kerala, India), July 08, 2011, 10:48 PM.
Dear friend: It was really a great feeling to know that you had won a large silver medal in INDIPEX 2011. Very very happy to read your interview now. All the best in your thematic collection on Sikhism.
9: Kulbir Singh Badal (Srinagar, Kashmir ), September 30, 2011, 2:48 AM.
Beautiful. Only a couple of days ago, I visited a philately exhibition held here in the Kashmir valley. I was inspired to work on the same field as Paramjeet Singh. I am very happy to see that someone has done such great work already on Sikh stamps.
10: Manjit Singh Chhabra (Ajmer, India), October 28, 2016, 3:02 PM.
Congratulations on your achievement and the hard work and dedication behind this. I had gone through this site today, I am a beginner for this theme and want to enhance my knowledge and collection.
11: Abhay Kumar Singh (Tehran), December 17, 2018, 7:19 AM.
How I can contact S. Paramjeet Singh, the Master Stamp Collector? We wish to organize his stamp exhibition in Tehran.