Freedom-fighter’s grandson cherishes Bapu’s spectacles, stamps on freedom movement

Indore, Aug 13 (PTI) More than 1,000 postal stamps related to the freedom movement and a pair of spectacles gifted by none other than Mahatma Gandhi are part of a cherished collection of Indore resident Alok Khadiwala.

Khadiwala, 53, grandson of a freedom-fighter himself, has been collecting stamps since childhood.

“I am particularly interested in collecting stamps on the country’s freedom movement and its heroes,” he told PTI on Tuesday, ahead of Independence Day.

His grandfather Kanhaiyalal Khadiwala was a freedom-fighter.

After Independence, the Indian government issued postal stamps to honour the contribution of leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the revolutionary troika of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, Chandra Shekhar Azad, and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi who was martyred during the 1857 uprising.

Not only India, but the United Nations and countries like the UK, US, Germany and Indonesia have also issued stamps and coins dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and some other iconic Indian personalities.

Alok Khadiwala has many such rare stamps and coins in his collection.

His prized possession is a pair of spectacles that once belonged to Gandhi.

“After the independence in 1947, the Jawaharlal Nehru government sent my grandfather to Ajmer in Rajasthan to pacify communal riots. After peace was restored, he went to Delhi to apprise Mahatma Gandhi of the situation. Bapu gifted his spectacles to my grandfather,” he said.

Khadiwala, for whom stamp-collection is a passion, said philatelists would exchange stamps free of cost earlier, but the situation changed after the COVID-19 outbreak as digitisation got a boost.

“After the outbreak of COVID-19, the use of paper is decreasing and stamp collection has become an expensive pastime as people demand high prices for rare stamps,” he noted.