Etching his daughters memory

 BANGALORE:  On February 23, 1999, Dr R G Sangoram lost his daughter, a fellow-philatelist. In her memory, he visits schools to educate kids about philately, thus keeping alive a hobby she was so intensely devoted to.Keerthi Sangoram (1972-1999) was just 26 years when she died following adverse reactions to antibiotics. She left behind an immaculate legacy of philately —  Rs 4 lakh worth stamps, covering 12 topics in Science. All of Keerthi’s stamps were accompanied by handwritten explanatory notes.“Before I am her father, she is my Guru first. I developed an interest in philately because of her. I also learned how stamps have to be exhibited from Keerthi. I now visit schools, conduct workshops and encourage kids to take up this noble hobby,” says Dr Sangoram, a retired professor in Chemistry.According to him, philately goes beyond the mere act of collecting stamps. It involves collating knowledge about different countries, their history, politics and also economy. Keerthi took her stamps to 12 international exhibitions, winning silver prizes in all of them. She is probably the only Indian to have an exclusive stamp collection on Nobel laureates since 1901.Keerthi’s collection includes stamps on history of communication devices, man on the moon, astronomers, telescopes and cosmology. “She took a keen interest in science. More importantly, she was curious to learn. Her interest in stamps began when she was in class 8. As she had school, I used to visit post offices to buy stamps for her,” remembers Dr Sangoram.Keerthi studied BE (Instrumentation) and went on to complete MBA from Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore. “I never asked her to become an engineer. All I asked her was to live life to the fullest. And she did,” reminisces her father. Even to this day, Dr Sangoram collects stamps in memory of his daughter.“I always tell my wife that we need to move on. Perhaps this is what the Almighty planned for us. I miss her every minute. I am sure she is happy to see young kids learn from her stamp collections,” says Dr Sangoram.Almost a-100 sheets of stamps covering five topics were on display recently in B V Jagadeesh Science Centre. Dr Sangoram, also the president of Karnataka Philatelic Society, welcomes interested patrons to visit him to engage in collection of stamps.