Jay Raghu's Musings - “Collecting” from stamps to flags – has this hobby died…

“Collecting” from stamps to flags – has this hobby died…

“What is the capital of Peru?”

“Lima”

“And that of Bolivia?”

“La paz”

Children of my age were quicker to answer our teachers. The scene is a government school in the early 70s. Our recess time conversation used to hover around the capitals of cities, colour of flags and the habitat of Congo forests. And we were children in the 7^th and 8^th class in a non English-speaking government school, where even the teachers struggled to speak fluent English. But what they lacked in conversation, they more than made up in their dedication to turn us children into bright youngsters who could complete with comfort civil service, chartered accountancy, UPSC and any competitive examinations. They fervidly encouraged us to pursue the hobby of ‘collecting” something, from stamps, flags, animals and even match labels.

The concept of hobby was at its best in practice during our school days. I recall a company called Calcutta Confectionery Works that used to come out with these flag, animals and stamp enclosed- chewing gums for a paltry 10 paisa. One of the wrappers is a lucky wrapper as it would have an imprint “Send this coupon” which if sent to their address, would make you gape with wonder after 10 days when you receive a beautiful album. You start buying chewing gums and collecting flags and animals and learnt a lot in the process. The frenzied and animated conversations during the lunch breaks were unmatched to any thriller!

“Hey, Ram has got two “sendis coopen” (our pronunciation of the lucky wrapper!)

“Did you know that Sekar has got Nicaragua” – this meant that Sekar was lucky to get this country’s flag which is a rare item!

“I got 52 in exchange for 35 from Raghu” – this means that Raghu has been naïve to handover the rare 52 (antelope) for the often found 35 (Elephant)

The households used to be quite controlled too. We would be given a 10 paisa only once a week which not only restricted our chewing gum habit but also elongated our hobby to almost a year, keeping the entire academic duration with this sweet intellectual pursuit.

I recall our math teacher, a Ms Brinda, occasionally taking the flag album from one of us (Invariably, the albums would be carried to the class everyday!) and conducting a playful quiz on the countries and their capital cities. The winning team would get 50 paisa from her which would promptly be spent in “Kudumi kadai”(named after the owner’s appearance!) in the purchase of bubble gums and it is not easy to explain the mayhem that the winning team would create.

Then there was this Ms. Padma, social science teacher who would allocate one period each week to read out to the students Tamil classics of DEVAN, the most voted novel was CID Chandru. In the next week’s class, she would conduct her quiz on the story and again the winner gets 50 paisa. The story goes the same way..Kudumi kadai, chewing gum and mayhem!

Today, having watched both my sons pass out from a very leading private school, known for its excellent teaching and results along with extra-curricular activities, I never noticed them pursue a hobby of “collecting” anything. Their leisure time, whatever was left amid the high octane classes like IITJEE, etc., was spent on TV, reading but not in this amazing hobby.

Is this collecting hobby not a great method of engaging the students in a delightful manner?

And by the way, does anybody know as to the current state of this dream of a company called Calcutta Confectionery Works which brought out chewing gums under the brand called A-1?