AN AUTOGRAPH IS A PIECE OF HISTORY IN INK

Emmanuel John Patras

Hello. My name is Emmanuel John Patras and I am a Holy Bible Teacher at various Churches and Christian conventions all over India. I stay in Bareilly, UP.

I was introduced to philography by my father in 1988 when I was 25 and now it has been over 3 decades into philography. I have more than 900 autographs including those of Presidents, Awardees, Noble laureates, film and television celebrities, sportspersons, musicians, Saints, scientists, authors, National Leaders and more.

My father told me that autographs were history in ink and it was a great idea to collect these pieces of history. He suggested to me that I should create a collection. Can you guess what he said next?

He asked me to collect the autograph of the then President Shri R Venkataraman!

Collecting the autograph of the President himself. I knew my father wasn’t kidding with me, but the President, really?

I wrote to the President mentioning my desire to collect his autograph. Soon, I received a telegram from his office. Shri Venkataraman wanted me to collect the autograph in person. Can you believe it?

Ecstatic, I reached the President’s office and met him. Shri Venkataraman was pleasantly surprised to see that a 25 year old had travelled all the way from Ajmer to Delhi for his autograph.

 

 

Starting philography with the President’s autograph was certainly a big boost, but it wasn’t that simple always.

I had started my collection through the mail. Let’s remember that we are talking about the 80s, when there was no google and addresses were difficult to find.

Next, I was on the hunt for the autograph of the first man ever to land on the moon, Mr Neil Armstrong. The only way to find his address was by reaching the US embassy. So I wrote to them asking for his address and they obliged me.

I sent Neil a card on his birthday and you know what, he sent me his photograph with the autograph with my name on it. The first man who landed on the moon wrote my name on his autograph book! It is amongst my most prized possessions.

 

 

Talking of prized possessions, my favorite is the signature of Mother Teresa. She literally was a saint. I had written to her to pray for me on my birthday, and she gave me the best gift ever. She sent her signed letter on my birthday.

 

In time, I also collected the autographs of many politicians like Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Narendra Modi and many others.

My journey in autograph collection would have not been this long had my family not supported me. I really owe it to them.

Autograph collection is one of the best hobbies a person can have. It is one of the very few hobbies that the collector and the celebrity both cherish.

 

This article has been written by Pooja Gupta. 

She is a freelance writer, anchor, a youtuber and a former RJ. She writes everything from ads, promos, articles, dialogues, short films, screenplays, feature films and web series. She travels across India to host shows and makes relatable videos on her youtube channel. For work, she can be contacted on pooja.gupta2178@yahoo.com.