Outram Club, established in 1934, has stepped into its 75th year and has planned a year-long bash to celebrate it. The events have already begun with an exhibition of old stamps and letters at the 3 Outram Street address, recently inaugurated by filmmaker Sandip Ray. The show “documented Calcutta as well as cinema through the city’s postal history” and there were a number of stamps celebrating Satyajit Ray’s films such as Pather Panchali.

P.K. Banerjee and Sandip Ray at the club. Picture by Rashbehari Das

The stamp display was put together by Madhukar Deogawanka, an avid philatelist and a senior member of the club. The other guests for the evening included artist and philatelist Dipak De, who is believed to be the only Indian to have designed a stamp for the UN. “Almost everyone had a stamp collection as a child and it was about competing for the most valuable stamps among friends,” smiled footballer P.K. Banerjee, who had dropped in to see the exhibition.

“Today, stamps are a treasure trove both as far as monetary value is concerned and also in terms of the mine of information they provide about the history of different events in the country,” said De.

“I quite admire these people who collect these pieces of old Calcutta. Both my father and I were quite interested and we used to have these fat Stanley Gibbons books and would collect stamps periodically,” recounted Sandip Ray. “However, it is a full-time job and I remember my father giving away his whole collection to a friend and all that we were left with were the albums and hinges but no stamps.”

The evening also saw the release of a special cover commemorating the platinum jubilee of the club as well as a booklet on Indian cinema honouring Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar, followed by a screening of the Feluda film Baksharahasya.

Outram Club, popular for its cultural activities, theatre festivals like Sampreeti and classical music soirees, also launched an anthem for the special year. It also seized the moment to launch its renovated bar.

Diya Kohli