KARACHI: At a time when many hobbies have started to take a back seat with the advent of different hi-tech media (including the wondrous world of the Internet) and people seldom talk of coin collection or other similar stuff the way they used to, Karachi still boasts of quite a few philatelists who feel proud every time they show their precious collection to friends or to admirers of the leisure pursuit.

Khalid Malik, a member of the executive board of the Philatelic Federation of Pakistan, is one of them.

“Things have advanced pretty far. There is a stamp society in every city and each has many members. Then there is a federation of which each society is a member. It's called the Philatelic Federation of Pakistan and is itself a member of the Asian Federation and of the World Philatelic Federation.

“Every year you'll see one or two exhibitions being organised. This year in June there's going to be a display at the Expo Centre. There was a time I had a big collection of Great Britain's stamps. There came a point when I couldn't buy more because they were too expensive. I disposed them off. It included the Penny Black, the first (adhesive) stamp of Great Britain. It was a one-P stamp with Queen Victoria's profile on it. These days I'm collecting Canada revenues and Canada small queens. The hobby is to … with the fact that I myself feel happy looking at the stamps. Then there are certain things that you exhibit or put on sale. It is heartening that nowadays Pakistan participates in every international exhibition. Internationally, governments fund their exhibits, which is sadly not the case in Pakistan,” says Khalid Malik

There are voices which are not in consonance with the established opinion. For example, M. Arif Balgamwala says, “The situation is pretty bad. There are many societies and everything is going topsy-turvy. I've earned a gold medal in philately and no society does anything to appreciate my effort. These people do nothing. One society asked for a favour suggesting only then would they provide me with a letter of recommendation. There's lots of leg-pulling going on. Every city has a federation, but no one is doing anything worthwhile. I've shown my work and collection all over the world. I do it as a hobby and for my country. On March 19, the Russian consulate held an exhibition of my stamps, but our own federations don't do much.

“I have a collection of Pakistan overprint 1947-49. I also have a gold medal from abroad. Not just that I've earned a large gold medal. I'll explain. There are different categories: bronze, silver, large silver, vermeil, large vermeil, gold and large gold. I have aero-philately British-Indian airmail. If someone wins three large gold medals then they can apply for the champion of champions. I'm the only person to get the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz in the field of philately. People don't understand; a lot of hard work goes into it. We do scientific research on the origin of the stamps, on their size etc and then go ahead with it. It's no cakewalk,” says Arif Balgamwala.

It was in the 19th century that philatelists began making societies to promote and project their hobby. The International Philatelic Federation came into being in 1926. And after World War II a number of specialist societies were founded all over the world. Philatelists are of the view that the history of postage stamps in the subcontinent could be traced back to Scinde Dawk Stamp, the first Asian stamp issued by Sindh in the 1850s. The then commissioner of the province Bartle Frere authorised its introduction. The first catalogue of Pakistan's postage stamps was published in 1975 and the Philatelic Federation of Pakistan was formed in 1996-97.

To ask why someone would study or collect postage stamps would tantamount to asking why someone would keep loved ones' letters. There are certain objects that you attach emotional value to. Certain other items become part of your daily routine, an activity that you do when you're not working. It can be called a hobby or a pastime. And a good one at that!