Sachin Tendulkar has undoubtedly left his ‘stamp’ on the game of cricket. Now, India Post wants to capture his imprint for ‘post’erity.
The Department of Posts is set to come out with a special stamp of Rs 20 to honour the legend’s last and record 200th Test match appearance on Thursday.
Designed in-house, India Post has 30.1 lakh sets of two stamps, 24.1 lakh sets of miniature sheets, and 16.1 lakh sheetlets of the stamp — all for Tendulkar’s fans.
India Post officials said the stamp will be released by Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday — just after the toss.
The stamp will be available at all major post offices.
Philatelists are upbeat over the move. Varanasi-based Sanjay Singh said only two persons in India have had stamps released when alive. “One was Mother Teresa; the other is Sachin.” If one looks back on the annals of cricket, perhaps a parallel can be drawn with Barbados releasing a $5 bill in honour of Sir Frank Worrell decades ago.
E-mail might be here to stay but Tendulkar fans have no complaints about picking up the stamps.
Sridhar Joshi in Chennai has asked this reporter to pick up stamps for him.
Nikhil Karnik, from Navi Mumbai, said: “I will buy the stamps and keep them as a treasure alongside my prized possession: Sachin’s autograph.”
The stamps may perhaps provide some solace to fans who cannot make it to the Wankhede Stadium.
And, in all probability, the Mumbai General Post Office and other GPOs around India will see the kind of queues they haven’t seen in years.