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| An Inaugural Day Special Cover of Sikkimpex-82 |
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| An Award Day Special Cover of Sikkimpex-82 |
Despite being associated with
its postal history since 1861, the state of Sikkim lack in promotion of philately.
A significant chapter of Sikkim Rocket Mail Experiment 1935 had different
pioneering achievements in the world philately today. Till this date, only four philatelic exhibitions had been held in the state, and the last one was held in 2008.
A little is known or
read about the first philatelic competition that was held for three days at
Gangtok during November 2-4, 1982. The exhibition was called “Sikkimpex-82” and
inaugurated by Homi J.H. Taleyarkhan, then Governor of Sikkim. More than 30
stamps enthusiasts had taken part in the exhibition. Two Special Covers with the
illustrations of an orchid and a yak and a souvenir book was also released on
the occasion
I here want to share a
small anecdote that happened during the second Philatelic Exhibition that was
held at Gangtok in 2002, exactly after twenty years. I was one of the 40
participants who took part in the exhibition and my first foray into the world
of philately.
In a welcome speech,
one of the officials of the Postal Department of Sikkim told that the
exhibition was the first philatelic exhibition to be held in the Himalayan
state of Sikkim but they had to accept their mistake when they were told that
the first exhibition in Sikkim was held in 1982 and Mr. Ganesh Pradhan from
Rhenock had exhibited the three special covers that were released then. A
handful of these covers are still available with Mr. Ganesh Pradhan.
Interestingly,
I am happy to write that I had come across a certificate of Late Ganga Kaptan,
Sikkim's first Nepali Novelist who had taken part in that competition. It gave me immense pleasure that a legendary personality of Sikkim Nepali literature
was a fan of a stamp collection that we never knew.
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