MAIN MILKHA SINGH BOL RAHA HOON

Sayam Bagmar

 

Hi. My name is Sayam Bagmar. I am 21 year old student of B Com Final year. I stay in Gadag, a small town in Karnataka.

I have been a philographist from the past 4 years and a philatelist for about 8 years. I have a collection of 350 autographs collected over photos, books, bats, tennis balls, jerseys, caps and more items. I have more than 4500 stamps.

I owe my autograph collection to my friend Amarjeet Singh, who is a well known philographist. Had it not been for him, I would have had no idea that a hobby like autograph collection exists!

Amarjeet told me that autographs could be collected in person, through exchanges, could be purchased and collected through the mail. The amount of effort he put in collecting various autographs was incredible.

I was really intrigued about philography.

The main city closest to my town is Bangalore, which is about 400 km away. So I knew that in person collection was not feasible for me. The only option was collecting autographs through the mail.

It was a little difficult for me to believe that celebrities actually signed autographs and replied back. I mean, think about it. Someone who is a celebrity is bound to be busy, right? How on earth would he have time to read my letter, amidst so many fan letters he would be receiving, reply to it and even post the letter back?

Call it my luck or God’s grace, I was pondering over these questions when I saw the movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag on television. I still remember, it ended at 12 am.

After watching this fantastic movie, I thought of writing to Mr Milkha Singh!

At that very moment I messaged Amarjeet and shared my excitement. Amarjeet encouraged me to write to him and even sent me the address!

Believe me, I wrote the letter there and then! I must have finished it around 2 am. I mentioned in the letter about my love for Mr Milkha, watching the movie and the fact that I was writing to him at 2 in the night!

I completed the letter and as the next day approached, my apprehensions got the better of me!

I didn’t post the letter!

I finally posted the letter after a week and forgot about it.

One fine day, my phone rang!

 

“Hello”

“Hello, I am calling from Mr Milkha Singh’s residence. Is this Sayam Bagmar?”

“Yes, Sayam this side”

“We have received your letter and Milkha ji would be signing it !”  

 

I thought this was a prank call from my friend, but it wasn’t! It really was a call from Milkha sir’s residence!

It was his secretary speaking to me.

 

“Is Milkha sir around?”

“Yes”

“Hello, main Milkha bol raha hoon…”

“Ji, ji sir…..”

“Beta aapka letter mila, aapne likha ki kaise aapne der raat tak picture dekhi, phir 2 baje tak letter likha, mujhe bahut achcha laga. Aapne jo photos bheji hain, main sign kar doonga. Kal ye letter post ho jayega.”

 

I got goose bumps!

I had just spoken to the living legend Milkha Singh, who actually took time to call me! He had received my letter, liked it and was even going to send me his autograph!

I was on cloud 9!

What do you think happened next?

I waited and waited and waited for the letter….for the next 6 months! Yes, I waited for that long, but didn’t receive the letter!

I wrote to Mr Milkha again, mentioning that his reply had probably gotten lost in the transit!

Was I going to get a reply this time?

After a week, I got a reply from Mr Milkha with his photographs signed!

 

 

This was my first attempt at philography and it was fulfilled! I know it wasn’t easy but when I look at this photograph, nothing else matters!

 

 

This article has been written by Pooja Gupta. 

She is a freelance writer, anchor and a former Radio Jockey. She hosts shows all over India 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.