EACH AUTOGRAPH I HAVE HAS MY NAME WRITTEN ON IT

Sudhir Lunawat

                            

 I have been collecting autographs for almost 2 decades now and each one has been collected through the mail (TTM). All these autographs are addressed to me and I never thought that one day I would be talking to you about my collection!

Hi. My name is Sudhir Lunavat and I am from Bikaner. I look into the marketing operations of a textile company in Surat.

I enjoyed watching various celebrities on television. I used to admire their hard work and their journey to success was very inspiring!

 

What if I could get their autographs?

 

I started contacting winners of several Beauty Pageants across the world and requested them to send their autographs! The only way to do this was TTM.

Priyanka Chopra was amongst the first ones to send me her autograph!

Gradually, I diversified my collection to other fields as well.

It was quite an effort to find the addresses of celebrities. There was no internet at that time. I used to keep a close watch on the news related to different celebs and this helped me to find their addresses!

Even today when there are various search engines, finding the correct address is not that simple. Many addresses listed on the internet are incorrect. So I do everything from my end to get the right addresses. This can be very saturating and time consuming sometimes!

Moreover, it used to take some effort to draft the letters I sent seeking the autographs. With each letter there was certain research required. In my letters I never mentioned that I was a philographist.

When I would write to about 10 people, 2 would send me their autographs!

These autographs were nothing less than a treasure for me!

Their personal replies mentioning my name and appreciating my effort to reach out to them would get me ecstatic! I would keep these letters and autographs very carefuly, read them over and over again and cherish those memories!

Social media was opening up gradually. I saw many people displaying their autograph collection on twitter, instagram etc. I thought of displaying my collection too but in a different way!

Whenever there would be a celebrity’s birthday, I would upload his autograph on social media. The fact that I was addressed on each of these autographs distinguished my autographs from the rest!

Then I thought of writing to the prime ministers and presidents of various countries. These celebrated men had a lot of staff, they would have a sophisticated way of replying back, postage sent from their end would have its own uniqueness. With all this in my head, I wrote to all the presidents and prime ministers across the globe, and almost 140 replied to me.

I received the autographs of  Bill Clinton, Late Shri Atal Bihari Bajpai, Late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and so many more!

My parents are neutral to this hobby of mine, whereas my wife and kids get very excited each time I receive an autograph! Their excitement is a huge incentive for me to continue this forward!

Many philographists fear a TTM collection because the authenticity of the autograph comes into question! People think that the autograph may have been signed by the celebrity’s staff!

I don’t agree with this. I feel each celebrity is sensitive to their fan mails and to ask their staff to sign the autograph is putting a question on their integrity!

People often ask me about that one autograph I really want to have in my collection. Well, it is the autograph of the Queen Herself! I have written to Queen Elizabeth so many times but to no avail. I will keep trying!

I want to tell the aspiring philographists to definitely pursue this hobby, but they should be patient when they approach a celebrity. Also, autograph exhibitions should be done to encourage philographists all over the world!

 

 Sudhir Lunawat is a resident of Bikaner who looks into the marketing operations of a textile company. He has been collecting autographs for almost 2 decades now and has approximately 700 autographs. Each of these has been collected through the mail and is addressed to him personally. His notable autographs are those of Rakesh Sharma, Milkha Singh, Kapil Dev, Late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, Lata Mangeshkar, Priyanka Chopra and many more!

 

This article has been written by Pooja Gupta.   

Currently a freelance writer and an anchor, she is also a former Radio Jockey. She hosts all kinds of shows and writes everything from ads, promos, articles, dialogues, short films, screenplays, feature films and even web series. For work, she can be contacted on pooja.gupta2178@yahoo.com.