From: Use-Author-Address-Header@[127.1]   
      
   AFTER LONG COLONIAL STINT, PORTUGUESE LEFT A COLOURFUL GOA TRAIL IN STAMPS   
      
   From Frederick Noronha   
      
   PANAJI (Goa), July 14: British India's legacy differed in many ways from   
   that of colonial Portuguese Goa, including in the unusual legacy of stamps   
   it left behind -- which went beyond those of queens and kings that London   
   concentrated on.   
      
   "British Indian stamps depict mostly queens and kings, while (colonial)   
   Portuguese stamps one finds not just kings but viceroys, historical persons,   
   buildings, saints and poets, sports, maps, heraldic arms and what not," says   
   Umesh Kakkeri, who recently did his research on the subject.   
      
   Kakkeri (41), an engineer by profession who recently authored the book   
   'Postal History of Portuguese India' says, oddly, Portuguese stamps tended   
   to get used "many times with different surcharges" and some were even   
   bisected and printed with values on both halves.   
      
   Kakkeri says he met a "number of persons" interested in the field, but among   
   them just too had "fairly good collections" from among those he had seen. He   
   conceded that there might be others that he hadn't seen.   
      
   Says Kakkeri: "Its a 'funtastic' hobby. It will teach you about everything   
   from history to geography. This book could help anyone with a problem in   
   starting to (get a point to refer to)."   
      
   The engineer based in the North Karnataka town of Belgaum said he had been   
   doing "extensive research" for the last 15 years, resulting recently in the   
   book which contains a brief history of the postal system till the end of   
   Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961.   
      
   Besides looking at all postal cancellations issued during this period, it   
   also covers postage stamps and stationary issued since the introduction of   
   the postal system in Goa.   
      
   Goa, a state of 1.4 million on India's west coast, has long been a point of   
   meeting of cultures between South Asia and the outside world, including   
   during the long colonial spell from 1510-1961.   
      
   Kakkeri's book also lists the stamps released, with details of the designer,   
   perforations, quantities printed, errors and varieties. Stamp-collectors --   
   who call their's the 'king of hobbies and hobby of kings' -- are known to   
   look out for errors in rare stamps, which lends additional value to   
   collectors.   
      
   He expects his book, possibly the first on its subject, to be a Bible "not   
   just to philatelists who are interested in Goa's stamps and cancellations,   
   but to everyone who likes to remember the Portuguese postal system as   
   compared to today's snail-mail".   
      
   Kakkeri's romance with the unusual subject flowered when doing his civil   
   engineering at the Farmagudi college in Goa. "Some of my friends gave me   
   Portuguese India stamps, and that was the beginning." With his family deity   
   in Goa, Kakkeri built on the "affection for this place" and his hobby.   
      
   His interest took him to probing deeply the cancellations of 'Portuguese   
   India' (or Estado da India Portuguesa, as the colonial power referred to   
   their small possessions in South Asia).   
      
   Some of his own collection includes widely-travelled postal covers,   
   post-cards, letter cards, minature sheets besides stamps. The author can be   
   emailed at umesh_kakkeri@hotmail.com   
      
   ENDS   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   Frederick Noronha         784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat, SALIGAO, GOA India   
   Freelance Journalist      TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436   
   http://fn.swiki.net       http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at   
   bytesforall.org   http://www.bytesforall.org   
      
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