USSR - Transport - Railways

I will get back to sports in the near future. The non-sporting enthusiasts have been sending ‘not so subtle’ hints, that they have had a bit too many sports posts for the time being, and that all play and no work does make Jack a dull boy. So, where do I go next? I don’t know where, but I do know how I may get there. By, land sea or air transportation. So, that’s what we will look at next. Transport. And transport during the Soviet days, if you please. I will display one frame per post, so that the thematic collectors could study them in detail, and in peace.

These stamps portray locomotives from 1833. One of the stamps has a picture of the famous Moscow Metro. The beauty of this underground transport system is not just its efficiency, but also the magnificence of the stations. They are like museums, with marble flooring and gorgeous chandeliers winking at one from the ceilings, with sculptures and paintings making a visit to these stations most pleasurable, as personally experienced by yours truly during my transit through that great city.

(As usual click to enlarge)

UK - Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh 1986

These days hectic activity is going on in my hometown, namely, New Delhi. This is on account of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Roads are being widened, laid and re-laid, new sports complexes are expected to come up, accommodation being readied for thousands and thousands of spectators from all over the world, a Games Village to house the medal seekers on the battlefields of various events, and not forgetting the Metro transport system. Tunnels and pillars for the Metro line are all over the place. Some lines are already functional. The ones still under construction are posing problems and creating new hazards for traffic and commuters in this Great and bustling city. But, everyone is singing and humming the same refrain “we will overcome”.

The Commonwealth Games are being held in India for the first time. I am sure commemorative stamps and first day covers will be issued on expected lines. But, I wonder if the authorities are thinking out of the box and planning a surprise in terms of souvenirs, that people of India, or at least of Delhi would be proud to display on their mantel pieces, and tell their Grand children, real and imagined stories of the Games, always ending their tales with “…. And I was there, and saw it all”.

Edinburgh in Scotland was a place I visited in May 1957. Don’t be scared this isn’t my travelogue. Edinburgh comes to mind as that ancient city had hosted the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Those interested in these games (which come next to the Olympics in importance) might like to see my souvenirs of those games. The special issue during those games was the ‘Two Pound Sterling’ Gold Coin. So here’s all about the Games through these stamps and for the ‘moolah’ collectors the gold coin. Please also note the penned autographs of some of the greatest athletes of our (actually mine) times, including Roger Bannister and Snell.

(click to enlarge as always)

Seoul Olympics 1988

While we are on Sports I am reminded of the 1986 Seoul Olympic Games. As a matter of fact I have an album of sorts commemorating the 3^rd Anniversary of the decision to hold the Olympics there. I present a few extracts from my album. This may interest the sports thematists amongst you.
Thank you Shashi for this nice stamp booklet.

Italy - FIFA World Cup 2002

While we just talked about Russian sports it would be worthwhile talking about other sports too. Besides, a break from the Soviet era would really be refreshing I feel. I was always a very keen cricketer – for the school, for the North Zone Schools, at the National Defense Academy, for the Navy and even had a crack at the Services team for the Ranji Trophy. But, in school it was necessary to play Hockey and Football as well, for the simple reason that our sports teacher felt that these games were necessary for character building. He said nothing about making money through sports.

These days I believe there is no emphasis on character building sports! Instead encouragement is given to boys and girls to go hammer and tongs (how this can be translated by my non English speaking friends beats me) at cricket. Many young men in India these days do make a neat pile in the shortest period of time and also become household names. But, I am digressing. In school the sports honcho need not have forced me to play these character building sports, for I genuinely felt, in those days that I would come good in Hockey and Football as well as in cricket. It so happened that because I kept wicket in cricket, my classmates automatically felt that my place was between the goal posts, and so it was. I never became a Dhyan Chand or Pele. Didn’t even reach the standard of Maradona. All that I achieved in these games at school were a couple of broken toes and a permanently bent finger. Notwithstanding the fact that I never indulged in these character-building games again, I remained a keen follower to this day. And so in 2002 when I happened to be in Hong Kong, I was desperately keen to go to Korea for the FIFA 2002 World Cup. This was really a great occasion as the World Cup matches had been allotted to an Asian country for the first time. But, the choice was staying on for a gorgeous holiday in Hong Kong and then on to Jakarta for an even bigger bash, on the one hand and the FIFA world Cup on the other. In hindsight I think I chose correctly by turning down the World Cup.

However, I was lucky as my good friend and brother-in-law happened to go to Korea and brought the world cup to me. Please see the date stamped brochure as well as the miniature sheets of stamps issued by the Republic of Korea to commemorate this Great Event in their country.

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USSR - Powerhouse in Sports

In the sports field the Soviet Union was a power to reckon with along with the United States. They were very good in not just the track and field events, but in all sports and in all events. In both forms of Olympic sports – the Summer Games as well as during the Winter Olympics they normally went home with a majority of the available medals and awards. It was only after the break up of the Soviet Union in the wake of Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika in the early ‘90s did the new Russia give a certain amount of leeway to other countries to also figure in the medals tally. And here too the erstwhile Republics didn’t do badly.

During my first winter in the Soviet Union, that is in December 1967, I along with a few colleagues and local friends used to go to the nearby frozen lake to learn and practise ice-skating skills. Everything looked so easy. Especially when one looked at children 4 and 5 years of age laughing and carrying out all sorts of antics on the ice. I don’t know how many of you have experienced the thrill of putting on skates and standing up on the ice for the first time! For me it turned out to be a horrifying experience, because, one moment after I put on my skates and stood up holding the wooden bench, I was looking smug and proudly gazing around at my tentative friends, and the next moment like a VTOL jet aircraft I was in the air, but, only momentarily, as I soon made very hard terrestrial contact with my rear on that rock hard frozen ice. Robert Bruce, I believe try, try and tried again seven times and achieved his objective somewhere in Scotland many years ago. But, on that first day I tried God knows how many times, and each time I only managed to bruise my bottom a little bit more. That evening I felt worse than when my Principal had made me bend over on his chair and had given me five of the best for some prank in class. That was in my fourth standard, but I still remember it. But this experience was really bad. That night Mama (we used to call the old lady who cooked for us that) saw me standing at my dining chair, and the pained look on my face told her all. She came to me and suggested that next time at the pond I should try skating with a pillow tied to my backside. I never became a skating champion, but did finish the skating season a little more comfortably. But, I am digressing. I was talking about Soviet sports. So lets take a look at a few Soviet stamps and miniature sheets on sports. On the right is a miniature sheet of the 1968 Olympic Games which became famous on account of American Bob Beamon's unbelievable long Jump of more than 29 feet.

(Click to enlarge the image)

India - The magical Aldabra

Recently My good friend in Thanjavur who is an expert in ships and other craft sent me two sheets of the Aldabra turtle stamps issued by India Post last year. Aldabra brings back very happy memories and I thought you gals and guys won't mind sharing these experiences with me. So here goes....

I had the good fortune of visiting the little known island of Aldabra in the Indian Ocean in 1987 when I was commanding an Indian Navy Fleet Tanker (INS Deepak). Aldabra is a couple of hundred kilometers from Port Victoria in the Seychelles group of islands. INS Deepak was equipped with two Alouette helicopters. And naturally the Captain made full use of these ;-)) On this June morning, I, along with another officer of mine, went to the island in one of the choppers. We searched all around the small island for a suitable place to land. Unfortunately, the island was covered with coconut trees, a few huts and a beautiful silver coloured beach but no safe hard ground to land. To avoid the possibility of getting the chopper bogged down on that lovely beach, I told my pilot to hover about 10 feet above the sand, so that we could lower a rope ladder. The place selected was near a few huts and a bigger brick and mortar walled and palm leaf-covered roof. Which we later found to be an office, cum dining room, cum storeroom, cum everything really. And thus, we scrambled down the rope ladder on to that fabulous beach and a soon to be an experience of a lifetime!

We walked down to the largest of the three huts nearby, and met with an elderly, weather-beaten garrulous old man who was the caretaker (?) of the Island. He immediately welcomed us and started telling us all about Aldabra. He said that a boat from the main island of Seychelles arrives once in 2 or 3 months with water and other provisions. This supply was dependant on weather conditions and that they were not happily provided at that moment of time. He took us to his dining room, where he regaled us with stories of his seafaring days along the East African coast on tramp ships. While he was narrating, we were breakfasting on lumps of bread, luncheon meat, fried eggs and a delicious South African red wine to wash it all down. I may add here that all the tinned food, fruits, wines and liquor were made in South Africa and were of very good quality, as our palates could have vouched for. He also told us that visitors to this island were mainly from Germany, France and Italy who came in small groups of one to ten people. On that day, there were only two young French tourists - a young lady and her boyfriend. These were tourists who came to the island to soak up the sun and get away from the civilized world. They learnt to shed their inhibitions almost as soon as they set foot on this fabulous island. We felt like doing the same, but protocol had to be maintained. But the tourists I mentioned earlier were as free as must have been Adam and Eve in there utopian Garden of Eden. Inhibitions of any kind were anathema to them, as we were to witness by and by.

We were then shown his visitors or logbook, where entries dating back to more than a 100 years were recorded. This book had all the data one could need to write the history of the Island. Names of visitors, the staff, when and what had been received, of storms and bad weather et al. I went through the pages and was surprised that the only Indian sounding name was that of one Mr. Nair (unfortunately his address was blurred due to some coffee or tea, but, I could make out the word Cochin) who had come to the Island about 70 years earlier. So we promptly recorded our names, addresses and have course our impressions. The caretaker then took us around the island. It’s main inhabitants were huge tortoises that live for tens of decades. We got ourselves photographed with my chopper crew’s camera, sitting on the backs of these gigantic but docile creatures. We swam in the crystal clear waters and lay down on the unspoilt, silvery beach and gazed and wondered at Nature's bounty to mankind. We also drank the pure and sweet coconut water from coconuts freshly cut from the luxuriant but shorter coconut palm trees. As we were preparing to leave, the young French couple I mentioned earlier came to talk to us. We spoke about them, the Island and us. And they told us about the marvelous time they were having, and generously invited us to share their hut while we were around. An offer we declined – but Oh so very reluctantly. Oh! But I forgot to mention that they were totally bare as Mother Nature intended all of us to be - I mean they had on, only their first birthday suits. I did say something about no inhibitions earlier, didn’t I? We finally called back our chopper and bid the islanders a fond and affectionate farewell.

I sent a couple of more chopper trips to the island with a few more of my officers and men. On these trips also went wheat flour, rice, ghee, fresh fruit and Jerry cans (the caretaker's) of fresh water. And our Good Wishes that the simple folk on that island continued living happily and comfortably. And soon, the sun set, we weighed anchor and set sail for our next port of call, namely Mombassa, followed by Dar-es-Salaam, where more adventure awaited. But, that's another story. Aldabra, was and still is, a fresh and refreshing memory.

(Please click images for enlarged view)

USSR - Flora and Fauna

Russia is a huge landmass spreading across many time zones. This is amply brought home to air travelers, who travel from say Petrograd (formerly Leningrad during the Soviet days) to say Khabarovsk (That is almost the route of the Trans-Siberian Express.). These passengers may have to eat the same meal say dinner many times over and over again. These huge expanses experience a variety of weather and climatic changes. From frozen wastelands to lush green meadows. Thus, Russia is home to many different kind of flora and fauna. It is also believed that Russian literature and poetry have been influenced by weather. Epic tales such as Dr. Zhivago and poets such as Lyermontov were products of the vagaries of Russian weather, especially, the severe winters. But, these very winters were also a strong defence against foreign armies. Who can forget General ‘Winter’ and the defeat of Napoleon in the Siege of Moscow, and of Hitler at Stalingrad.

This huge landmass is home to a variety of flora and fauna which would be any botanist or zoologists dream come true. You may like to see a few samples here. Lets take a look. Click the images for an enlarged view.

USSR - Antarctic Exploration

Another view of Russian Antarctic exploration on stamps.

USSR - Antarctica

The Russians are not new to exploration in the Antarctic ice covered landmass. The stamps shown were issued to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Soviet Exploration of this vast and largely unknown land.

India is also a major player in Antarctic Exploration, and many Expeditions have been sent there. The Russians have assisted the Indians in setting up their camp at Dakshin Gangotri.

The stamps I am displaying are se-tennants with very peculiar perforations in the centre. Experts on se-tennants and perforations may like to comment on this.

USSR - Telecom

These two miniature sheets are about electronics. The first one shows the Russian advancement in Radio, Television, Radar, Astronomy and Space Communications.

The second miniature sheet depicts the historic telephone conversation between the two leaders of India and the Soviet Union, Mrs Indira Gandhi and Mr Leonid Breznev. This conversation inaugurated the Tropospheric Communications link between the two countries in 1981

USSR - Vladimir Ilych Lenin

Let us now talk a little bit about the Father of the Soviet Union – Vladimir Ilych Lenin. His birth, childhood, youth and the man he became are well chronicled in thousands of books written about him and the Soviet Union. So, bless us all, no more of that. But, what did amaze me, a visitor to that great land, was the total and unquestioned hero worship of a man long gone, with many dictators who followed him. Some benevolent and some not so. I wonder if there is any country capitalistic, socialist or downright dictatorial where there are so many statues of one man; where there are so many real or presumed quotations of one human being; where so much time and energy was spent in making flags and buntings, and of course giant sized posters, which adorned every building in every hamlet, town and city – all in honour of one man. The only colours being used appeared to be bright Red And Gold. It was of course the Celebration Year. 50 years of Communism, 50^th Anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Even then, I felt that it was overdone. Not by just a bit, but by a great deal really. But, I forgot to mention, that, I do not think there is any human being in Philatelic History who has had so many postage stamps issued in his honour. You might think I am exaggerating, but check it out in any reliable catalogue, and you will find that VI Lenin beats them all by miles. Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein really missed the bus on this one. A few samples to delight (sic) you guys.

General

The Moon Landing through Soviet Eyes: A Q&A with Sergei Khrushchev, son of former premier Nikita Khrushchev

A son of the Cold War tells what it was like from the losing side of the Space Race--and how the U.S.S.R.'s space program fizzled after Sputnik and Gagarin. Check out, but please don't laugh!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=apollo-moon-khrushchev

Fish and Chips

In one of the previous blogs, I had displayed a se-tennant set of 5 ships engaged in the different processes in deep-sea fishing. But, I forgot to mention, the not so deep sea fishing efforts of some of us, who lived on Ruski Ostrov (Russian Island) just off the city of Vladivostok. From about the 15^th of December to almost the 15^th of February the Sea of Japan that entered our sheltered bay use to freeze up. It was at such times that we used to stroll on the ice with our more experienced Russian friends. The idea was to walk out on the ice to a distance between 100 to 300 meters from the shore, place a wooden stool, and drill two or three holes around us with a special drill. Prepare our fishing rods with bait, and wait for the fish to do the rest. And the rest they did do, and most enthusiastically at that. For, within an hour one could easily collect upto around 10 to 12 healthy and fit specimens of around 18 inches in length and about 8 inches in diameter. Some called it tuna and some carp. But, to tell you frankly, I never was really interested in the label, all I was interested in was how the fried fish tasted. And tasted real good it did, with crudely cut and fried potatoes. I say crudely, for the simple reason that the outside temperature was mostly around minus 20 C, and any activity involving cleaning and cutting involved removing our thick gloves, and that was daunting. A true epicurean was bound to frown at our efforts, but, we residents of ‘Pyervi Korpus’ (Barrack No. 1) loved it. It was a change from the horse, whale, hammerhead shark and any other unknown beast that happened to unfortunately land up in our plates. This used to happen sometimes if the mutton train was late due to inclement weather. I’ll tell you about these unfortunate animals and fish species and how and why they landed up on our plates, and what they tasted like, another day, as it’s a tale by itself. But, I must admit that whereas the hammerhead shark was edible, the sturdy farm horse wasn’t. I know all this is far from philately. But remember, one cant just keep licking stamps, one has to eat too ;-))

USSR - Republics

I have just been called up by a friend to inform me that the names of most of the Republics on the stamps posted are not legible, so I am reposting the stamps. To get an enlarged picture, just click the image. Thanks.

USSR - Ships and Craft

Peter the Great is called the Father of Russian maritime affairs. He not only laid the foundations of a great and powerful Navy, but, also introduced Russia to international trade and commerce via its mercantile marine assets. The 5 ships shown on the right of the frame are an entire fishing industry , from catching, storage, cleaning, treating to canning and all that is involved in the processes.

For those of you who would like to know more about ships and watercraft, they could visit http://shipthemegallery.blogspot.com/ for a better appreciation.

USSR - A Look at Red Russia

A friend of mine said to me, that, as I had spent some time in Vladivostok (USSR in those days of Nikita Khrushchev) during the ‘60s, it would be nice if I talked or displayed something I had collected during those days. As a matter of fact I was in that great country when they were celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the Great Revolution. This, I felt was a good idea, as I do have a fairly good collection of those days. I had gone around the bookshops in Vladivostok quite extensively, to look for stamps (that’s where they peddled stamps etc in those days). Now I won’t describe Vladivostok or the kind of life I spent there (even though I’d love to) except to say that in winters it is an exceptionally cold place (-20 to –30 Cs during the day, and really brrrrrrr at night). But, that did not stop the Vladivostokans from eating their favorite ice creams while window-shopping in biting cold weather. There was a joke going around, that if you wanted to know Russian progress in Metallurgy, all that you had to do was request an average Russian on the street to give a big wide smile into the lens of your camera. The silver and gold tooth fillings would tell an ample story about metallurgical advances in that country!

Over the next few days I will try and display a cameo of the various facets of the USSR. The Golden Anniversary in 1967 was a great and continuous event, the national ceremonies seemed never ending. The city nay the whole country was bedecked with buntings flowers and flags everywhere. Each Republic that formed the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics the USSR (or CCCP as written on the postage stamps) was trying to outdo one another in their nationalistic fervor. So lets begin by looking at the emblems of the Republics that formed the USSR.

The Eagle Has Landed 9.9.1969

The anniversary of the First Man stepping on the Moon is another four days away, but, I want to tell you of my personal experience of this momentous event 40 years ago.

I fondly remember 20^th of July 1969 when the greatest event in the History of Mankind took place 230,000 miles or thereabouts from the Earth – on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility. I was then a Lieutenant serving on the mighty (at least we in the crew thought so) INS Kadmatt, at Vishakhapatnam (popularly known as Vizag) on the East Coast of India. That evening many of us were crowded round the radio in the Wardroom listening to the Voice of America (fortunately (sic), there was no TV in India then). The commentator from Cape Canaveral or wherever (!) was telling us in hushed tones about the Moon Lander which had separated from the capsule with Collins in it. From time to time we would get a live feed from Buzz Aldrin about the progress of the Lander. Neil Armstrong, I believe was busy in the mundane task of searching for a nice place to come down amongst the boulders on the Sea of Tranquility. Minutes ticked by and with bated breath we waited, and we waited and then we heard what sounded like, “The Eagle has landed”. The wardroom exploded in a chorus of ‘bravos’ or words to that effect. Man had made one more conquest. History had been made, and I was part of it!!!

An often asked question about the Apollo 11 First Day Covers....
Why does it have
two dates in the postmark: July 20 and Sept. 9, 1969?

This question had been dogging me for some time too. The clarification given down below came from a fellow friend of this blog who in turn got it from the US Postal Services.

· The master printing die for the Apollo 11 stamp was carried to and from the moon in July, 1969. When the printing die returned to earth it then it was used to make the printing plates for the postage stamps that were issued by the Post Office and used on these first day covers.

· These postage stamps were not ready to be released to the public until September 9, 1969, and this is the date of first issue that appears in the postmark.

· This Sept. 9 postmark also reproduces the July 20, 1969 cancel of the first moon mail which was used to cancel a proof of the 10¢ First Man on the Moon stamp cancelled on the moon, this is the commemorative part of the Sept. 9, 1969 cancel.

· The 10¢ First Man on the Moon stamp was designed by artist Paul Calle and this postage stamp is the first jumbo-size commemorative issue. This Apollo 11 first day cover was the most popular ever issued with a record 8,743,070 postmarked at Washington, D.C., the official city of release.

Birds-Se-tennants 1970/71

For those of you who are fond of Se-tennants, I thought these Cuban lovelies might interest you.

Paquebot

I was explaining the "PAQUEBOT " MAIL system to a young collector yesterday. For those of you who are not familiar with this term a short explanation would be in order. Under century old UPU regulations, vessels arriving at a foreign port can deposit mail posted in international waters bearing stamps of the country, which the ship belongs to or is maintained by. This special arrangement applies for mail posted at the first port of call in each country. Mail posted at subsequent ports must be franked with stamps of the country being visited. Ship mail posted under this scheme should be marked with the French word "Paquebot" and the stamps cancelled with a distinctive postmark to indicate treatment as "Paquebot" mail. Mail must be clearly identifiable as from a particular vessel and is handed to the Post Office by the ships purser or shipping company agent as soon as the ship arrives. This type of mail is seldom seen and accordingly is regarded as very collectable by maritime postal history and ship stamp collectors. However, the lad shook his head but was far from understanding what I was saying. Unfortunately, I did not have an example of PAQUEBOT cancelled stamped cover which would have surely helped. I therefore, request anyone who has such a specimen may kindly send me a scan of it to fdcover@gmail.com so that I can post it on this blog for the benefit of others including myself. Thank you.

The Flying Fish

I recently received a very interesting special cover commemorating the Golden Jubilee of INAS (Indian Naval Air Sqn) 550 from a friend of mine Captain Vijesh Garg who is Commanding INS Garuda, at Kochi in Kerala. This is one of the Indian Navy’s air stations.

INAS 550 “Flying Fish’ was commissioned on 17 June 1959 as the first Air Squadron of the Indian Navy. The flying fish has operated 13 different kinds of aircraft (shown on the special cover). These included amphibians, helicopters and fighters, over the last 50 years. The stalwart MR aircraft, Islander and the newer Dorniers form the mainstay of the squadron tasked to maintain a constant vigil on India’s Southern maritime borders, and, undertake training of the Navy’s fledgling Maritime Reconnaissance pilots and observers. This blog salutes this brave Squadron and the personnel who serve in it. Bravo Zulu.