Exploring how ‘A Stamp is Born’

The vice president of India, M Hamid Ansari released an interesting tile A Stamp is Born, authored by CR Pakrashi and published by Niyogi Books, at a simple but elegant ceremony held at the vice president’s house recently. The book reveals a fascinating history of how stamps came into existence and the travails of designing them.

The 93-old Pakrashi, an acclaimed painter and stamp designer, has designed as many as 56 commemorative stamps on great men and important national events.

The vice president, while releasing the book lauded Pakrashi for not only describing in the book his experiences with stamp designing but also the history and evolution of postage stamps in India and the world. “Pakrashi has described every aspect of the production of postage stamps,” he added.

Introducing the book, Pakrashi said, “The book tells you all about the various stages of production of a stamp. The history of postal stamp system and postage stamps in general has been elaborately dealt with. This is probably one of India’s first authoritative book on stamp making. It offers a glimpse into the glorious chapters of Indian history.”

A Stamp is Born is a wonderful collection of tiny pieces of historical anecdotes, related to Lord Buddha, India’s Freedom struggle, Swamy Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Ustad Bismillah Khan and several others.