savings of a lifetime: Diptimoy Sarkar has a mammoth autograph collection, including those of 80 Nobel laureates, 380 foreign personalities and 162 musicians. Picture by Ashok Karan

What if you were told that Helen Keller, who was blind, deaf and dumb, but still very famous because of her hard work, could write her name? You would perhaps ask for proof.

Diptimoy Sarkar, a resident of Ranchi, has Keller?s autograph with him. But that is not all: Sarkar has a collection of more than 2,000 such autographs, most of which are difficult to get, as their writers are no more.

He has 500 autographs of cricketers such as Don Bradman and Clive Lloyd and those of Lord Mountbatten and C. Raja Gopalachari ? the two Governor-Generals of India.

Sarkar also has the signatures of 80 Nobel laureates, 380 foreign personalities and 162 musicians including those of S.D. Burman, Shanker, Jaikishen, Ravi Shanker, Bismillah Khan and Ali Akbar.

The collector also has autographs of three US Presidents, including Richard Nixon, and of seven UK Prime Ministers.

The seven British Prime Ministers include Anthony Eden, Morris Harold Mcmillan, Harold Wilson, Lord Alexander Douglas Home and James Lunard Callagham.

Sarkar also has the autographs of Indian and foreign writers and poets, including those of Somerset Maugham, Mahasweta Devi, Tarasyhanker Bandhopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and Taslima Nasreen.

Indian Nobel laureates, like Mother Teresa, Rabindranath Tagore and C.V. Raman, find a special place in his collection, Sarkar says, adding that he regrets Amartya Sen?s signature is not with him.

The 70-year-old also has the initials of about 100 Bollywood personalities of yesteryears and 110 from Tollywood. Sarkar?s face glows with excitement when he displays the autographs of Bengali film stars such as Suchitra Sen, Kanan Devi, Chabi Biswas, Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee. He also has the autograph of Satyajit Ray.

Sarkar, a graduate of Calcutta Medical College, has preserved his collection in 16 volumes of hardbound folders and he started collecting the autographs when he was a medical student.

The septuagenarian said he never made any public exhibition because he was afraid his collections would be stolen. Because of this, Sarkar?s passion for autographs was known only to his friends and relatives.

?My collection is my life and I made a lot of effort to make this collection. While some I got autographed personally, I received others through letters. I wrote to the Presidents of the USA, Hollywood film stars and they replied. My friends and relatives also helped me get those autographs,? said Sarkar.