From Bombaim to Mumbai: City’s journey over the centuries narrated through postage stamps

The city of Mumbai has often been explained through books and movies but on Saturday, the changes that the city witnessed over the centuries were explained through

The city of Mumbai has often been explained through books and movies but on Saturday, the changes that the city witnessed over the centuries were explained through philately or a collection of postage stamps.

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These stamps, part of the personal collection of city-based historian Pascal Roque Lopes, were presented to a host of citizens through a virtual presentation, explaining the changes witnessed by the city through its railway lines, trade and banking industry, university and education institutes, law and order, sports as well as individual personalities who became synonymous with the growth of the city.

The presentation was part of a project put together by Mumbai Research Centre for the Asiatic Society.

“The oldest stamp shown is from 1935, showing the Gateway of India and a portrait of King George V which was worth half anna back then, while the most recent stamp is from 2019 — a commemorative stamp of Churchgate station,” said Lopes, 42, a resident of Vasai.

The presentation started with Lopes showing stamps highlighting the story of the Portuguese colony of Bombaim being gifted as dowry to the Portuguese princess at her wedding in early 1500s, followed by the takeover of the province by the British. It then goes to show the coming together of two key personalities — Jagannath Shankarseth and Jamshed Jeejeebhoy, who pushed development of the city with the formation of JJ School of Arts as well as the Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)).

“Slowly the story goes to look at locomotive engines with a stamp released in 1953 which shows two train engines — one from 1853 and another from 1953. This was followed by the formation of the University of Mumbai and some of the first few educational institutes, all of which found their way to postal stamps,” he said.

A computer engineer by profession, Lopes’s childhood interest in collecting coins or numismatics soon turned into passion for coins as well as stamps. At present, Lopes has a unique collection of over 3,000 coins and 1,000 stamps. “Coins and stamps bring out a lot of history of the city. While in the beginning I was only collecting coins from the British era, after pursuing my master’s degree in Numismatics and Archaeology out of passion, I got engaged in collecting stamps as well,” said Lopes, a stamp and coin collector.

Along with commemorative events and historical buildings that have found their way to postal stamps over the years, the presentation also highlighted the people whose photos were printed on stamps. “The first living person whose face was on the stamp was Dhondo Keshav Karve, an educator who fought for women’s education, and this stamp was released in 1958 as a commemorative stamp for his centennial birth year. Since then, many personalities have found their way into postal stamps including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar,” added Lopes.

“The idea for this presentation is to get more people interested in the world of coins and stamps and make a different niche among historians and even those whose interest lies in history of the city. Hopefully more will participate in conserving our history through philately,” said Lopes.