Children take a look at the stamps at Town Hall. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, March 29: They have nothing in common, yet 10-year-old student Shreya Kumar, businessman Lokesh Bagaria and Tata Steel employee S.R. Kumar, are all passionate about — stamps.

It has been a little over two years now that Shreya Kumar, a student of Loreto Convent, has been ably handling school homework and home assignments that her father’s been giving her.

Her father Sanjay Kumar, a neurosurgeon at Apollo Hospital, gives her various topics to work on and very diligently Shreya collects and builds her collection around the topics. The passion’s almost hereditary, as her father’s been a philatelist for the past 20 years and more.

Along with Bagaria and Kumar, Shreya and her father were a part of the three-day-long Dak Ticket Mahotsav that began yesterday at the Town Hall Kutchery Road. With more than 35 participants and 100 frames — of stamps, first-day covers (an envelope where the postage stamps have been cancelled on their first day of issue) and Meghdoot postcards — on display, the philately exhibition is a first-of-its-kind, being organised in the city.

“Philately, a hobby for many, often turns into an addiction for some,” says Gautam Rathi with a smile. And he should know, as Rathi was bitten by the stamp bug some 15 years ago. For him the tryst with dated pieces of paper and cloth first began when he saw his cousin collect stamps.

Lokesh Bagaria of Ramgarh was an especially proud man with his collection of Meghdoot postcards and stamps — depicting various aspects, places and things related to Buddha.

His collection of Meghdoot postcards would make any ardent admirer green with envy. Lokesh Bagaria went on to explain a very interesting fact about the special postcards. “Meghdoot postcards have advertisements on the right, while the lines are written on the left. Interestingly, any misprint or error on a stamp or the Meghdoot postcard makes it all the more priceless and raren” he said.

Like his colleagues, S.R. Arun Kumar, an employee of Tata Steel, has been pursuing his hobby for over 10 years now. “I have tried to show all the 28 disciplines at the Olympics through my collection,” added Kumar.

“But there is more to this exhibition than just stamps,” said M.Z. Khan, public relations officer of the postal department. “Philately is the main focus, but we are also displaying rare first-day covers, postcards and historical postcards dating to the first half of the 18th century,” he added.