Rabindranath Tagore’s death anniversary was commemorated by the department of post on Friday with a set of eight picture postcards.
The postcards, released at the General Post Office (GPO) on Friday, are on the theme of ‘Rain and Tagore’.
“This release is part of the department’s Forever in Letters campaign, which aims to rekindle the charm of hand-written communication and promote philately among the younger generation,” said Ashok Kumar, chief post master general, West Bengal circle.
Of the eight, seven bear the lyrics of Tagore’s monsoon songs in Bengali on photographs while the eighth has the English translation of the song Megher pore megh jomechhe. “We chose a song translated by Tagore himself for the postcard in English,” said Kumar.
The Tagore picture postcards that were released
Monsoon was chosen as a theme since the rains inspired Tagore the most creatively among all the seasons, an official explained. “Tagore has over 100 songs on Barsha among his songs on Prakriti (nature), with spring coming second with 93 songs,” he said.
Tagore, he added, is among the top five personalities having commercial appeal as a theme. “While Gandhiji is a global favourite, there is a lot of demand for Tagore-related philatelic items, in Bengal and also among collectors in Bangladesh.”
The Bengal circle cashes in regularly on this appeal. Another set of picture postcards on Tagore’s paintings and a thematic notebook were released on May 9, his birth anniversary, earlier this year. Santiniketan being named a Unesco world heritage site was commemorated last year, on August 19, through the release of a special cover, a permanent pictorial cancellation and a set of picture post cards on the heritage buildings at Visva Bharati.
Two postal employees who designed the postcards, Joyashis Karmakar and Debashis Sarkar, were recognised on the occasion. The set of postcards is priced at ₹80 and is available at the philately counter of the GPO.
