Tendulkar stamps hit a six in Pune

PUNE: The master blaster is on a dream run and clocking the north-bound score are the dusty corridors of post offices, and not the pitch that he bid a final goodbye to last month. Sachin Tendulkar stamps that the postal department launched on November 14 to commemorate his 200th test are selling faster than his fastest 100 with the Pune division recording a whopping sale of 24.72 lakh stamps as on December 19.And his postal innings has only begun.
Pune division had received 1.08 crore stamps on November 16, two days after the launch. “The stamps were distributed to all the post offices. We have 10 lakh stamps left with us, the remaining dispatched to other centres. The response from all centres has been unexpected and tremendous,” said H J Kakade, senior post master, head post office, Pune.
Sachin stamps are available in Rs 20 denomination and are being sold as a set of two commemorative stamps, a miniature sheet and a mixed sheetlet, tracing the beginning and the end of Sachin’s test career __ from a Boy Wonder to the Little Master. Also on offer are colourful Sachin envelopes priced at Rs 5 per piece.
Scorching the postal scoreboard is the huge demand among Puneites. Take for instance the Shivajinagar post office that started selling Sachin stamps only on December 10, but has sold 50,440 of them in less than 10 days. “There is a very good response from people from all walks of life. However, youths and children outnumber others,” said Ashwini Poddar, post master of the Shivajinagar post office.