'Candle on the Water' features unique world of lighthouses

Postal stamps and covers featuring various facets of lighthouses across the globe were on display in a philately exhibition, on the theme 'Candle on the Water,' organised by the Dakshina Kannada district Philately and Numismatics Association (DKPANA) at the head post office at Pandeshwar on Sunday.

MRPL general manager K Shridhar, who was the exhibitor, spoke to DH and said that lighthouses act as candles for sailors, helping them navigate in the right direction. Lighthouses are also termed as "pharos" and beacons.

The special covers on lighthouses were categorised on various bases, such as the design, materials, architecture, administration, on-shore and off-shore. There were stamps and covers from around 70 different nations including Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, China, Japan, US, Germany, France, Spain and Russia featuring lighthouses on miniature sheets, cancellations, maxim cards, commemorative covers and gutter pairs. Stamps on lighthouses at Mahabalipuram and Alappuzha were also seen.

Shridhar said that he has been collecting stamps and covers since 2000. He is basically from Erode, Tamil Nadu.

Prizes

He has won the 5th place (Vermeil) in INPEX – National Philatelic Exhibition 2017 for his collection on lighthouses.

Twelve other members of DKPANA who bagged awards in the INPEX 2017 are Daniel Monteiro (vermeil), Kishore Jhunjunwalla (large silver), Gopal Biswas (large vermeil and special prize), Sudhir Jain (silver), Sheryl Prabhu (bronze), Surendra A Kotadia (bronze), S Satish Kumar (bronze), Vidya Kishore Baglodi (silver), Ghouse Ali Zameer (large silver), Meera Mahaveer Kundur (large silver), St Aloysius High School (silver) and S Abhishek (silver).

Gold-plated stamps

Raviraj Belma from Konaje, senior project manager at Infosys, Mudipu, exhibited gold plated stamps released during the 80's. The stamps are issued by Postal Commemorative Society (PCS), United States, which is the third party, the exhibitor said.

There were around 36 stamps on display.

Special cover on Pejawar seer

M K Krishnaiah, curator of the Corporation Bank Haji Abdullah Heritage Museum, Udupi, informed that a philately cover will be released by the India Posts on Pejawar Mutt seer Sri Vishwesha Theertha, at Car Street, Udupi, at 4 pm on January 17 during a civic felicitation to Vishwesha Theertha, the outgoing seer of Paryaya Peetha.

The cover is brought out to mark completion of 80 years of the seer's hermitage. It will have pictures of the seer during his 'Sanyasa Deekshe' (attainment of hermitage) and in recent times. It will also have a special postal cancellation showing 'Vittala', the presiding deity of Pejawar Mutt. The Department had released a special cover on Sri Pejawar Adhokshaja Mutt of Udupi in January, 2016, to commemorate the 5th Paryaya of Sri Vishwesha Teertha Swami.

Krishnaiah added that a post card featuring Sri Madhwacharya and Udupi Sri Krishna was issued by South Karnataka Postal Region in the first week of January this year.

A postal cancellation featuring Attur Church, Karkala, will be launched at the church premises at 12 noon on January 18, Krishnaiah said. The cancellations are issued by the Department of Posts, Karnataka Circle, Bengaluru.