Uttar Pradesh philatelist boasts of hundreds of postal stamps on personalities

Gorakhpur (UP), May 14 (ANI): Mohammed Arif Siddiqui, a philatelist from Gorakhpur of Uttar Pradesh boasts of having collection of hundreds of postal stamps on scores of themes ranging from freedom fighters and kings to Prime Ministers as well as several others.

A retired officer from the Department of Agriculture, Siddiqui has a collection of around 1500 stamps.

He has been collecting these since his college days and attributes the success of such a hobby to his botany professor.

"I was a Bachelor of Science student in 1967. Shakeel Ahmad was my professor at the college who inspired me to collect stamps. My first stamp was of Tipu Sultan. Later on I got stamps of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhiji," said Siddiqui.

Today, Siddiqui's album has a collection of stamps from countries like the US, Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nepal and Pakistan.

He is grateful to his dear and near ones settled abroad for enhancing the scorecard of his stamps collection.

Like a chip off the old block, Siddiqui's son Mohammed Miraz too has taken a fancy to the hobby of collecting stamps.

"I collect all the arrivals of the Indian postal stamps from the office including first day cancellation. I take out stamps out of the mail, received from several of my friends abroad. I also ask them to get me more when they come to India," said Miraz.

Miraz is keen to supplement his father's collection. By Pawan Saw (ANI)