Currently working as a Banker at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Roshan Prasad (30) basically belongs to the tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim.
Born at Singtam, East Sikkim to parents R.S Prasad and Meera Prasad, Roshan completed his schooling from Sir Tashi Namgyal Senior Secondary School, Gangtok and later did his Bachelors in Commerce from University of Calcutta, West Bengal.
Initially, collecting postal stamps and other philatelic materials related to Cricket was just a hobby for him but gradually it became a passion for him on a serious note and with his huge collection of stamps, he started participating in various national and international competition.
Currently, he has been representing Emirates Philatelic Association at Dubai, UAE in various competition abroad.
Roshan’s journey of collecting stamps dates back to the year 2005. Though he had a collection of definitive stamps of Great Britain obtained from his elder brother but attending a state level stamp exhibition ‘The Stamp Show 2005’ in Kolkata, developed an intense urge in him to explore the world of philately.
Since then, he has been passionately collecting postal stamps of different countries, philatelic materials related to cricket and autographed postcards of crickets players. It has been 11 years now that Roshan has been into philately and has been winning many accolades, awards and also hearts.
His collection entitled ‘The Story of Cricket’ comprised of most of the postal stamps, first-day covers, special covers, booklets, miniature sheets, postcards, telegrams and commercial envelopes on crickets, issued worldwide since 1962, the year when the first postal stamp was issued at Cape Verde.
Roshan’s collection basically portrays the journey and history of cricket from the time it commenced as a sport until today. The collection also showcases the different phases of the transformation of cricket in respect to its fundamentals, rules, and regulations, the icons of cricket, media-role and promotion and the emotions of the followers towards cricket.
His collection does really appeal the audience because the collection includes the Press-Telegram that was sent from Faisalabad, Pakistan to India’s Amrita Bazar Patrika, press report or match summary of one of the match played between India and Pakistan for the first time after Independence.
One can also witness many limited editions of cricket covers, some vintage postcards on the theme cricket and above all the autographs of Hall of Fame of Cricket, including an autograph postcard of Sir. Donald Bradman (who is known as the father of cricket) in his collection. Roshan basically collects his stamps from different dealers of the world, sometimes also exchanges with other collectors as well. He is also a regular bidder in eBay online auction for rare and vintage items related to cricket.
Roshan’s philatelic collection has been immensely appreciated by different cricket and sports boards and clubs of India and abroad. He is associated with various philatelic society viz, Sikkim Philatelic Society, India; Emirates Philatelic Association, Dubai, UAE and Cricket Philatelic Society, Great Britain.
He has also attended and participated in various events and exhibitions as India’s 1st One frame National exhibition held at Vadodara, Gujarat, India, 2009; Stamp of India National Exhibition held at Delhi, India in 2010; Darjeeling District level Stamp Exhibition, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India , 2014; 21st GCC Stamp Exhibition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2016 and World Stamp Championship, Taipei, Taiwan, 2016. He has also been a regular exhibitor in Russian Consulate (Gorky Sadan), Kolkata, West Bengal, Indian between 2008-2011 and have also exhibited in The Heritage School of Kolkata, West Bengal.
Roshan has also won many accolades and awards. To his credit, he has won Sapphire in 1st One frame National stamp exhibition, Vadodara, Gujarat in the year 2009; Sliver in Stamp of India National Exhibition, New Delhi, 2010; 2nd Prize in Darjeeling Stamps Exhibition, West Bengal 2014; Vermeil in 21st GCC Stamp Exhibition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2016 and Silver in World Stamp Championship, Taipei, Taiwan 2016.
He has also designed Special Cover for the National Club of India (Mohun Magan AC) in 2010 to commemorate the Centenary celebration of 1st Victory of Indian football team (commonly known as “The Immortal XI”, who played barefooted) against British-East Yorkshire Regiment (IFA Shield 1911), which was issued by Department of Post India and was released during Mohun Bagan Day 2010 by the then Governor of West Bengal.
Roshan Prasad aspires to be one of the most successful philatelists in the world and participate and hold many philatelic events in future.
Despite all his achievements and participation in various national and international events, he still feels void because he has not got any opportunity in the state of Sikkim so far to showcase his collection, thus he is really looking forward to showcasing his collection to the enthusiasts and audience in the state of Sikkim soon.
(The Northeast Today)