KARACHI, Nov 28: Everything that has anything to do with Germany, from the allied occupation, antiques, musicians to their automobiles, sports, flowers and even insects became a part of the exhibition titled ‘German history illustrated by stamps’ at the Goethe Institut on Thursday.

The collection has some seven stamps about German football, too. The information provided with them talks about Germany’s supremacy in world football. “The German national football team has won three World Cups [1954, 1974, and 1990] as well as a record of three European championships [1972, 1980 and 1996]. The women’s national football team has won the Women’s World Cup twice [2003 and 2007] which makes Germany the only nation that has won both the men’s and women’s World Cup,” said M. Arif Balgamwala, the collector of these stamps and many more, while speaking to Dawn.

Similarly, the series about German musicians has stamps issued to honour Beethoven, George Frideric Handel, Louis Spohr, Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The other little groups framed together also carry noteworthy information about the country and what it is famous for.

Mr Balgamwala is recipient of several honours including 71 medals in world stamp exhibitions and 74 in national stamp exhibitions. He was also the championship class runner up in China in 2009. Besides, part of his collection has been selected in the Gems of Philately Australia and the Court of Honour Thailand earlier this year. He is also the recipient of Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for achieving the highest honour for Pakistan in the field of philately. About this particular exhibition, which also happened to be held on his birthday, Mr Balgamwala said: “Covering 47 topics, it is a bird’s eye view of Germany through its stamps.”

“The stamps were lying around and I wasn’t able to make the time to compile them into a specific collection. It takes time and effort to do that and I’m glad that eventually I could separate the stamps in my vast collection to make different groups that I could frame such as the ones about art, animals, birds, famous German men and women, ships, transport, flowers, lighthouses, musicians, etc.

“I also did research in order to give the historical background for the stamps I used in the groups and the result is before you,” he said while thanking the Goethe Institut and its director, Dr Manuel Negwer, for putting up the exhibition. “I also wanted to work on this collection to bring the people of Germany and Pakistan closer,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Balgamwala’s better half, Ms Shireen, told Dawn that her husband has taken part in various exhibitions all over the world. “That’s how he collects stamps, too,” she informed.

“Philately is not so big in Pakistan as the rest of the world. There while enjoying the exhibitions you also get a chance to buy stamps, including rare ones. It is a good market for stamp collectors. My husband has been collecting since he was a teenager and throughout our 27 years of marriage. It’s a good hobby, which I may not share but support,” she said.

Mr Balgamwala said that he has had to take several breaks from philately off and on. “I started in 1971 but stopped for a while as my father wanted me to concentrate on my studies. Then I started again in 1975. Took a break again due to work in 1992 to 1993 but came back to it in 1994 and have been involved ever since,” he shared.

“What I want to do now is get children involved in philately and educate them about the world and so many things in the world through stamps. I wish schools could also help in this regard,” he said.