Signature effect

Prema K meets a 49-year-old man who’s passionate about his autograph collection.

It takes all sorts to make this world. Recently, I received an email from a 49-year-old HT Café reader, Dhiren Shah, claiming to be an autograph-collector. Personally, collecting autographs was an activity I had outgrown in my teens. But for a grown-up to rave about it was something else altogether.

HT Image

My curiosity was aroused. I wanted to know what drove him to pursue, I presumed, his childhood hobby. I was amazed to see that his collection included not just Indian personalities, but also international celebrities. And all this, despite the fact that he had never stepped on foreign soil, ever!

With a laugh, he says, “I write to them to congratulate them on a new development in their lives. I also express a desire to get their autograph.” He’s happy that most of them have obliged. Now, this was getting more interesting. It surely requires a lot of patience and perseverance.

Shah takes great pride in his collection and displays it with passion. His collection includes autographs of Dalai Lama, J K Rowling, Robert Ludlum, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sitara Devi, Aamir Khan, Jagjit Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Morarji Desai, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Vishwanathan Anand, Bachendri Pal, Edmund Hilary.. the list goes on. Shah started in 1984. He recalls, “After Indira Gandhi’s assassinated, I sent a letter of condolence to her office staff. I was thrilled when I received a letter of thanks in return.”

Next, he sent a letter to Ronald Reagan when he was elected the U S President. And was touched when he received a beautiful ‘Thank you’ card from the President and his wife, Nancy Reagan. There was no looking back after that. Shah started writing regularly to writers and heads of countries. The only personalities who didn’t respond were Pakistani politicians, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shariff, and baseball player, Jordan Brown.

Dynamic woman
Shah gets a little emotional when he shows me the late B K Birla’s autograph: He recollects, “His biography, One Day At A Time, was released. I wrote to him to find out where I could buy the book. He signed a copy of the book and sent it to me.” His meeting with Kiran Bedi, the first woman police officer, was memorable. He reminisces, “I had read her book, I Dare, in four days and found some typographical errors. I pointed them out to her. Her personal assistant sent me a ‘Thank you’ note with the promise that the changes would be made in the next edition.”

He expressed his desire to meet Bedi. And she met him on her next trip to Mumbai. He says, “It was a five minute meeting two years ago. I still have to meet another woman like her. She’s so dynamic!”

I assumed that he’s a great fan of all these personalities whose autographs he has collected. But he tells me that he has only been a Jagjit Singh fan for years. He explains, “I started liking the others only after I got their autographs.”

Creating records
He feels that in a way, collecting autographs, has chained him to history. He states, “In the age of computers, people don’t care about writing. Autographs and signatures of famous personalities and celebrities will become a rarity in the future.”

Although he’s not interested in creating records, he’s all set to collect the maximum number of autographs. However, he will not buy any.

So if you thought collecting autographs was just a passion then there’s something else coming your way. Shah considers his collection an asset. He says, “God forbid, if I’m in dire straits ever, I will sell them. I know the Vallabhai Patel and Morarji Desai autographs will fetch me a good sum.”