BANGALORE: There is a thin line between greed and passion.Seventyyear- old Dr Sangoram is a person who believes that if you want something, then money shouldn’t be a problem.He is a philatelist for 24 years now and isn’t stopping anytime soon.Recently he showcased 80 sheets from his special collection of Nobel prize stamps at the The Sweden India Nobel Memorial Quiz His love for stamps grew in the year 1986, when he helped his daughter Keerthi Sangoram collect stamp.Keerthi is no more, but there isn’t a day that goes by without Sangoram fondly remembering his daughter.When she in her early teens and had joined a club at school, that encouraged youngsters to collect stamps as a hobby.When she had to travel to places in search of stamps, her father would support her.With the support and encouragement shown by her father she travelled across borders and exhibited her collection.She gained remarkable achievements and won more than 12 silvers medals in international philatelist competitions.She also has her name in the Limca Book of Records for being the first Indian lady to travel to Germany to participate in the Dusseldorf Exhibition.As time passed by, Sangoram’s interest and love for stamps grew.Soon the chemistry professor at MES College realised that he should start his own collection in his favourite topic, chemistry.He and his daughter travelled across India in search of stamp dealers and also to participate in stamp exhibitions.“I used to collect and keep stamps for my daughter.As soon as we got back home, we used to spend time researching about the stamp and learn new things,” remembers Sangoram.Soon fate played its part.Keerthi suffered from antibiotics reaction resulting in death.Depressed by the death of his daughter, Sangoram continued to collect stamps in memory of his daughter.“Whenever I exhibit my collection, I always do it in the honour of my daughter,” he says.S a n g o r a m c o l l e c t stamps that are related to Nobel prize winners and scientific topics.Under the scientific topic, he covers astronomy, medicines, atom for peace, physics, Sir Winston Churchill and many more.He has more than 100 sheets on each topic.Each sheet is a size of a normal paper and each sheet has around five to six stamps.In his collection of Nobel stamps, he has stamps from the year 1901 till present.His collection is from various parts of the world.He collects his stamps by buying it from the dealers and the post mails that he receives.He says, “I am doing all of this for my personal satisfaction.If I like or want any stamp I just buy it irrespective of the price.Since I don’t collect rare or old stamps, most of the stamps come at a reasonable price.But sometimes it’s hard to find the dealers to get the right stamp” He has been elected as the President of the Karnataka Philatelic Society for the third time and has exhibited his collections all around the country.Apart from this, he also helps students in teaching them about stamps and also help them exhibit at various levels.He acts as a guide for the students when it comes to collecting stamps.The man is of the opinion that parents should encourage children to take up hobbies.“Parents these days force their children not to take up any hobbies and make sure that the only important thing in life is good grades or to be upto- date with technology.When you have a hobby it’s an exercise for the brains, and also helps you stay fit, by reducing the stress level,” he signs off..
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