After 4-year break, Karnataka postal circle reboots its annual philatelic exhibition
Bengaluru, Dec 4: As part of its ongoing effort to redefine connecting people' in the online era, the Karnataka Postal Circle will be reviving its annual state-level philatelic exhibition, which was last held in 2019 in Mangaluru.
"Ultimately, we want people to rediscover the joy of sending letters and postcards. We believe that this can be achieved by giving them a glimpse of the rich postal heritage of India," Director of Postal Services (HQ) Kaiya Arora told PTI.
The 13th edition, Karnapex 2024, which will be held in Bengaluru between January 5 and January 8, will piece together Karnataka's socio-cultural history through stamps, special covers, special cancellations and pictorial collections, she added.
A cancellation is a postal marking affixed on a stamps or envelopes of India Post to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use. Cancellations come in a variety of designs, shapes, sizes and colors.
"Stamps that are issued to mark historical milestones are nuggets of information and are perfect learning tools," Arora pointed out.
For instance, she said that to commemorate Karnapex 2024, special covers about things and events unique to Karnataka like ali guli manne' and kambala' will be released, thus documenting them for posterity.
The philatelic exhibition, which will showcase 690 rare and unique collections of stamps in total, including those loaned from serious philatelists, will explore different themes every day, she added.
"On January 5, we begin with stamps that document the history and culture of Karnataka. On January 6, it will be science, technology and environment. On January 7, stamps exploring the themes of mental health and sports will be displayed. And on the final day, women empowerment will be the key word," said Arora.
But Karnapex 2024 is much more than stamps, she said.
"We are going all out to draw people out of their homes. So, we have workshops on origami making, letter writing and drawing cartoons. We have a drawing and painting competition as well as a stamp designing competition. We have many interactive events planned too ranging from something traditional like a treasure hunt to innovative ones like digital charkha," said Arora.
The director said part of the reason why the postal department decided to up the outreach game is because the Unboxing Bengaluru' event, which was held during the first half of December, put a spotlight on the quaint postal history of the city.
"Many, for instance, discovered the oldest functional post box in the city, one of the 100 post boxes that Britain shipped to India to establish the postal service in India. This is at Taj West End. And this created a lot of buzz for us, thanks to social media influencers," said Arora.
The exhibition venue will also have stalls for sale of stamps, special covers, coins and other philately related items.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
