Spelling Bee in Postage Stamps

It's been a while since the last blog post discussing errors in spelling on Indian postage stamps. Here are a couple recent ones. Both these stamp subjects were recognized in the new definitive stamp series, Makers of India. One of them, Syama Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953) was also honored with commemorative postage stamps in 1978 and 2001. The first stamp in 1978 had English rendering of Mookerjee's name in a signature form, but the second one in 2001 showed his name typo-graphed in English and Hindi. It appears that Mookerjee's name in both the commemorative stamps is spelled similarly, but the new definitive stamp (2015) is quite different. So, now there are two variations of Syama Prasad Mookerjee's spelling. Why can't India Post use information from official documents such as Parliament records to confirm this prior to printing postage stamps? As far as the Hindi (Devanagiri) spelling goes, it is a well known tradition where the Mookerjee last name can also be replaced with Mukhopadhyaya as well. The problem here is that India Post puts this flexibility to full use. The stamp issued in 1978 and the new definitive stamp (2015) use Mukhopadhyaya, but the one from 2001 has Mookerjee on it. The Great India Post Confusion.

English renderings:
Syama Prasad Mookerjee (1978 and 2001)
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (2015)

Vernacular Hindi spellings:
Syama Prasad Mookerjee (2001)
Syama Prasad Mukhopadhyaya (1978 and 2015)

Another stamp released as part of the Makers of India definitive stamp series, is to honor Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. There have been two postage stamps released in his memory (1966 and 1988) prior to the most recent one last year (2015). The first stamp in 1966 shows Azad's name as Abul Kalam Azad, not using the Maulana title. The next one to celebrate his birth centenary in 1988 shows his name as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, but the one in 2015 changed the spelling for his title from Maulana to Moulana. This change not be a significant one, but the issue is about consistency. Firstly, India Post must try refrain from repeating stamp subjects, but if pressed, stamp designers on its artists panel should at least attempt for uniform naming convention for well known personalities, institutions or events. Here's hoping things will be better in 2016.

English renderings:

Moulana Abul Kalam Azad (2015)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1988)

Abul Kalam Azad (1966)

Design Flaw - 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit 2015

A  set of six stamps were released at the concluding session of the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit held from 26 to 29th October 2015, in New Delhi. These stamps were also released in a miniature sheet format (regular miniature sheet and embossed hot foil miniature sheet). The theme - easily predictable - for the stamps was animals in India and Africa, specifically, lions, rhinos and gazelles. Full marks for the idea and the paintings as well (designed by Suresh Kumar Achari). There are a few minor issues that show a sense of urgency in designing as well as printing from SPP Hyderabad.

The first design flaw (blue arrows in the image below) appears to be the location of the stamp title, '3rd India-Africa Forum Summit' in the two gazelle stamps. The other four stamps have the title well aligned to the top of the stamps. On the same two stamps, names of the gazelles (yellow boxes), Black Buck and Thomson's Gazelle are capitalized oddly. First letters of both words, for e.g. Indian Lion and African Lion appears to be a common approach on stamps, but the second words on Black Buck and Thomson's Gazelle are not capitalized (it reads Black buck and Thomson's gazelle). The last issue is most likely due to space constraints and a personal preference (red boxes). The two Lion stamps have the country name, stamp title and the denomination, all appear on the same top alignment making the stamps overcrowded.

Suggestions to mitigate such issues:
1. Proof reading the final designs will ensure spelling errors or capitalization mistakes don't occur (read another blog post about needing a research group in the Philately Division). Re-checking the final designs will also ensure simple design errors are caught and this exercise would be aimed at ensuring consistency and a well made final product for stamp collectors.

2. A radical approach to this particular stamp issue could have been to restrict the scope of work itself. Similar to the 2011 Africa-India Forum Summit stamps, where Indian and Africa elephants were depicted in a well designed miniature sheet (designed by Kamleshwar Singh), either rhinoceros or lions could have been chosen as the theme. A limited number of stamps could have ensured maximum sale (lower costs for the philatelists) and saved a couple ideas for future commemorations (potentially even joint issues with African nations). Below is shown a cropped image of the 2015 miniature sheet with rhinos only and the 2011 stamps.

Happy Dipavali or Deepavali?

Festivities for Diwali are winding down and this appeared to be a good time to draw attention to this glaring spelling error (Hindi spelling) in the Diwali stamp released by India Post in October 2008. This stamp spells Deepavali in English correctly, but when the Hindi script is transliterated to English, it reads Dipavali. The word Deepavali includes 'Deep' or lamp. It cannot be spelled as 'Dipavali' because 'Dip' has no meaning in Hindi. Another Deepavali stamp, a joint issue with Israel, celebrating the festival of lights was released in 2012. For good reason, the Hindi spelling was corrected this time around. Spelling Deepavali in Hindi is generally taught in elementary school, so it isn't a difficult error to miss.

दिपावली (Reads Dipavali) - Incorrect                                                                                     

दीपावली (Reads Deepavali) - Correct   

Anyways, Happy Diwali!

India Post needs a Research Unit for Philately

Another round of stamps that contain unique spellings. First up, the D. K. Pattammal stamp issued in September 2014. This can get tricky, but I will try explain. The musician's name in the vernacular language (Hindi) is printed incorrectly. The Department of Posts is not going to make any amends, but I do want philatelists to be aware of this fact. Take a look at the snapshot from the information brochure released along with the stamps. The incorrect Hindi spelling on the actual stamp reads - D. K. Pattaamal, whereas it should be corrected as D. K. Pattammal (as printed in the brochure).

D. K. Pattammal

The next stamp issue that deserves mention was recently released on 20 March 2015. This stamp was released during the India and Indian Ocean international conference in Bhubaneshwar. The stamp commemorates Indian Ocean and king Rajendra Chola I. The theme is great and the stamp is design is decent as well. The problem lies in the fact that the king's name Rajendra Chola I is printed as Rajendra Chola 1. It is typical to use regnal numbers (written using roman numerals) for monarchs, but India Post's choice of using the common numerals was odd. In the Hindi spelling on the stamp, apart from the fact that the Hindi spelling of Rajendra Chola I, oddly reads Rajendra Chol I, use of the common numeral 1, instead of just spelling out 'Pratham' or 'First' is amusing. I am unsure about the spelling of Chola in Hindi, but if I find additional information will provide an update.

Anyways, thought I'd shed some light on these two stamp issues, with a hope that stamp design can improve in the future. There is an urgent need to establish a research wing within the philately division in the Department of Posts to avoid such gross errors. This research unit will enable collection of accurate information on stamp subjects, help design stamps in consultation with SPMCIL, national museums, Ministry of Culture, etc. A proper system of quality check with respect to stamp design and printing will ensure that the best product is delivered to the philatelists. This idea may have been mooted in the previous Five Year Plan as well, but when will it be implemented?

Check the Spellings #1

It is important to have the correct spellings on stamps and related philatelic material (brochure, FDC etc). In the last decade there have been numerous occasions of typographical errors on Indian postage stamps. These are mostly related to the vernacular (Hindi) spellings. 

First one being a postage stamp issued on 30 June 2008 to commemorate 50 years of Madhav Institute of Science & Technology, Gwalior during the valedictory function of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The postage stamp has a spelling error in the Hindi alphabets. The Hindi word for 'Technology' is 'Praudyogiki'. It uses a letter, 'dya' in its spelling.  The stamp on the contrary mentions it as 'Praudhogiki', making no meaning out of it. It has replaced 'dya' with 'dha'. The Ministry under which the Department of Posts functions is Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, having 'Technology' in its name itself! Such blunders are an insult to the department, which cannot even take care of spelling mistakes in postage stamps, referred to as being a nation's reprecentatives to the world. The fascimile on the borchure shows the name spelt out correctly. The error could have cropped up during the printing process.

Another mistake can be found in the Brahmos missile postage stamps released on 22 December 2008. The FDC carries the spelling of the Moskva river, in English as MOSKAVA whereas it is correctly mentioned at MOSKVA on the miniature sheet. The version in the vernacular language, on the FDC reads as MASKOVA and on the miniature sheet as MOSKOVA. So, these are four different ways to the original MOSKVA river, after which the BrahMOS cruise missile is partly named. I request the artists to be more careful, since postage stamp is a miniature art form that conveys a message and thus needs attention to perfection. A proof-check of the philatelic materials should be done before being sent out for printing. These postage stamps are the message-carriers of a nation and this postage stamp in particular, will have significance in Russia as well.

A variation in spelling Satyajit Ray's name can be found in a definitive stamp release on the legendary filmmaker, a builder of modern India in March 2009. The vernacular spelling of Ray's name is different on the other stamp released to honor him in January 1994. The stamp in the definitive series translates his last name 'Ray' name to ' रे ' where as the commemorative version has is as ' राय '. One is curious to know what goes in the making of India postage stamps and why little to no attention is paid to the details and accuracy. It may not always be wise to question the spellings for proper nouns (individual's names) but, there is ample scope to improving uniformity in this regard.

This topic is one that deserves attention. The last word on this has not been written yet. As I finish writing this, there is a new postage stamp on Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola 1 and there are a few minor errors on that postage stamp as well. Rest for later.