A Passion for History. An Eye for the Exceptional.

Somu Choudhury

The Greatest Gem can be buried under a mountain of Rock. Somu Choudhury feels that autograph hunting is more like a treasure hunt.  Through an autograph one is exposed to History and the Collector also gets to meet a lot of unsung Heroes.

Why do people collect coins, or souvenirs, stamps and autographs? I guess-- there is some kind of a collecting gene in people, because so many people collect something or the other. Some people collect modern sports or celebrity autographs to prove they met the person. Most collectors of historical autographs collect them because they like some aspect of the person’s life in a historical context; Presidents, scientists, authors, inventors, etc.

An autograph is probably the closest to a forever lasting hug. It is a constant reminder that the person is real, not fake because the person signed the sheet of paper/ a scrapbook and you met him/her in real life. Having something that person owns or wear is also like a physical reminder. And a fan will collect basically everything the celebrity owns (that is online/digitally). And an autograph is another thing.

Somu who hails from Nalhati Birbhum-- West Bengal was fascinated by the entire spectrum. But naturally he took avid interest and became one of the leading autograph collectors—nationwide. He is also featured in the Limca Book of Records for having in his possession over 2500 AUTOGRAPHS! Here is a brief excerpt from the conversation we had with him recently.

I have been a collector for over 4 years now. I currently live in Delhi and my passion for autographs started from here. I am also thankful for my association with Mr. Santosh Lahoti who coached me and guided me in this regard.

Initially I started by writing letters to the celebrities. I got to know some celebrities in person, like for example Milkha Singh. I have visited his house in Chandigarh and I have his autograph too. I have also met Pratipal Singh Gill the World War II veteran. Abhinav Bindra also stays in Chandigarh. I love to collect autograph of Sports personalities.

Somehow we forgot our history.  We are missing the unsung heroes. Any autograph collection is a process. We need to read up a lot. We need to preserve history in our own way.  I first took the autograph of Mukesh Khanna the Shaktiman man. Imet him around in 2016 he came to the launch of a Store. This boosted me. That was the beginning. The latest autograph I have is from Bana Singh the winner of Paramveer Chakra. I wrote to him and he replied with an autograph. I am a regular email writer. I write to many.

The 14^th Dalai Lama his holiness and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. At morning 5 am I met bopth them. I could not sleep the night before. I enjoy perusing this hobby. When I met Dalai lama who was putting up at the Shereton in delhi I did my homework well. I knew he doesn’t meet any one after 3:00 pm as he goes into meditation. So I timed my visit. Finally I met him. I met him in the morning. When he was leaving the hotel I met up and I could manage the customary NOSE RUB with him. (Refer to the photo) It was an awesome experience. He later also autographed his book and gifted the same to me.

I also have met Hema Malini ji. In a Travel festival in INA in South Ex Delhi she was the chief Guest. I carried along with me some old pics of her with Dharamji. She called me when I showed the pics to her from a distance and later gave me her autograph on the pics. She also stepped out of the auditorium and posed with me for a pic. This was another unique experience.

Autograph hunting has been an eye opener for me. We all should engage in this hobby. We get to know a lot about our country. Our people. Our achievers. And our heroes.