KOZHIKODE: Father Tom John, Order of Friars Minor, through his philatelic exhibition which was held at Kadalas cafe on this Friday, has announced his support for the Indian cricket team which is set to play for the 2019 World cup that will take place at England this month.
Being in priesthood, he spends spare time collecting stamps. He is also an ardent devotee of cricket and this made him meet the legendary personalities of cricket including M.S. Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist.
“Stamps have a face value and historical value. There are lakhs of people who still collect stamps and there are people who are really crazy in this hobby”, said Father Tom while explaining about the relevance of stamps in this era.
Around 1000 stamps were displayed in the philatelic exhibition on Friday.
Apart from stamps various coins and first day cover stamps with the signatures of cricketers were displayed.
“Stamp collection is my hobby. I get stamps from many of my relatives and people I know. With the complete support from the church and my family I still continue to persist my passion in collecting stamps.”
He strongly believes in the message that he shares through stamp collection.
“Stamps represent a history. Every stamp has a story. We learn new things from every bit of it”, said Fr. Tom instilling the importance of stamp collection.
Discussing about the price value that stamps have, Mr Tom John said that there are stamps that are even sold out for more than Rs 1000. There are people who are even ready to spend `5000 and above for the rarest of stamps.
Apart from stamps on cricket, Fr. Tom also has a vivid collection of postal stamps on Birds, Animals, Fish, Hills, Mountains and many more.
This is his 12th philatelic exhibition at Kadalas Cafe. Father Tom right now is doing his service in the organisation “Prakruthi Mithra” at Wayanad. He will be heading to England to attend the world cup matches on 24th of this month.
