BHARATI PAWASKAR
It is a proud moment for this philatelist who has been nurturing his hobby of collecting rare stamps for the past five decade, and is today the proud possessor of over one lakh stamps as well as first covers. An NIO scientist with many academic and research achievements on his name, he is also the president of the Goa Philately and Numismatics Society (GPNS). Meet M R Ramesh Kumar who has won three medals in three different categories in the state-level philately exhibition ‘Goapex 2019’ held at Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji. Though he admits that this is not the first time that he has won medals for his collection of stamps and first covers. Albeit he won the gold medal for the first time and it means a lot to him.
In the earlier years too, he had won three medals in Goapex - gold in Cochi Postal Heritage, silver in First Day Covers and bronze in Cochi C Cancellations. He had won silver and bronze in Goapex 2014, two bronze in Mahapex 2016 and one bronze in Sipa 2016. He won silver in Inpex 2017 and Diploma in Mahapex 2018. It is in 2019 Goapex that he won gold, silver and bronze. “Goapex is district level, Mahapex is state level, Sipa and Inpex are national level exhibitions,” he briefs.
Ramesh Kumar is one of the passionate philatelists in Goa with V R Navelcar, Dr Bernard Rodrigues, Dr Abhay Mudholkar and Ashlesh Kamat. Living an adventurous career at NIO that keeps him busy, Ramesh Kumar sneaks out time to devote to his hobby - philately. His research work took him to places - Antarctica, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Mauritius, Italy, Egypt, China, Greece and he participated on several oceanographic cruises on board the research vessels in different parts of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and South Indian Ocean. “Very recently I participated in the National Programme called Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX). I was also a member of the Sixth Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica,” he recalls.
Ramesh Kumar has research interests in air sea interaction, monsoons, cyclones, climate-change and Antarctic oceanography. “My travels helped me to pursue my interest in philately too. Now that my retirement is nearing, I plan to devote my time to writing books on philately in Konkani and creating awareness among youth through workshops, seminars and lectures,” shares this chief scientist, AcSIR Coordinator, Physical Oceanography Division (POD) at CSIR - National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) who is retiring on May 31 this year.
He points out that collecting stamps, coins, first day covers, unusual stamps as well as errors in first day covers or stamps is a hobby that adds up to one’s knowledge. One can look at it as an investment too as a rare stamp may cost / fetch more than gold,” briefs Ramesh Kumar who has been in love with stamps since he was only four-year-old, thanks to his father M V Ranganath Pai who was a stamp collector. “I grew up watching him treasure his collection and started collecting too. Today I have over a lakh stamps and few thousand first covers,” boasts Ramesh Kumar.
He recalls that the Goa Philately and Numismatics (GPNS) was founded way back on December 19, 1975 with an objective to arrange exhibitions, competitions, film shows, talks and demonstrations on the subject and to publish a periodical apart from approaching the concerned authorities to provide special cancellations (FDC) in Goa. GPNS also pressed the government authorities to boost philately and offer scholarships to students who pursue philately as a hobby.
“Presently, we have 60 members out of which 30 are life members. The remaining 30 are annual and junior members,” shares Ramesh Kumar. GPNS is one of the oldest Philatelic Societies in India. The most prominent member who has won several awards at various level starting from district to state to national and then on an international level is V R Navelcar, who has been instrumental in guiding Ramesh Kumar along with his father and BalaKrishna Das - all of whom he considers his Gurus. Serving NIO since he was 21 years old, Ramesh Kumar nurtured his hobby of philately all his tenure and is excited to continue it in his retirement too. “My hobby has kept me young,” he concludes.
