COVER N. 620 - INDIA 

Postmark: Philatelic Bureau Vidhana Soudha 560001 Bengaluru  26.07.2025

Posted on the 26th July; Received on the 5th August 2025

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The last of Ravi's latest mail barrage is absolutely not the least interesting of the lot, as Ravi carefully chose two stamp issues from India that he knew I'd be very glad to add to my collection. Bohoma Sthuthi, friend!

- The history of  Mumbai International Airport or as it is now designated Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, goes back to the 1930s when the British set up an air base in Santa Cruz, in the outskirts of then Bombay and now Mumbai.

In time, after the handover to the Indian authorities of the infrastructure following the country's independence, and as a consequence of the rise in traffic that airports suffered in the wake of the end of World war two due to the exponential development of civil aviation that it brought about, a new passenger terminal would be constructed.

Named after its location, Santa Cruz Terminal  would be opened to traffic in 1958.

The advent of jet aircraft followed by the entry into operation of transport airplanes able to carry 450+ passengers dictated the need to again develop the passenger processing infrastructure and a new international terminal built in Sahar, was inaugurated on December 1980,  while Santa Cruz terminal was thenceforth dedicated to domestic traffic.

Today Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport processes in excess of 55 million passengers per year what makes it the 31st busiest airport in the world, by passenger traffic.

Celebrating 75 years of the infrastructure, India Post issued on 15OCT2027 a two stamp set (5 and 15 Rupees) illustrated with photographs of the international terminal, Ravi having used the 5 Rupee stamp on this cover.

- The dance of the Pauliteiros, is one of those cultural features of a very specific area/region of a country that has existed or as long as anyone can remember and whose origin is nevertheless obscure.

Miranda do Douro is a Portuguese municipality that is integrated in the region of Trás-os-Montes and is located in the Northeast corner of Portugal, neighbouring Spain.

Miranda is famed on account of two particularities: it is the epicentre of  the Mirandês speaking community (Mirandês being the second official language recognised in Portugal, although it is fluently spoken only by about 1500 persons) and it is also the place from where the Pauliteiros originate.

The Pauliteiros de Miranda are groups of dancers (in later years women only groups have also been formed although traditionally this was a dance that was performed exclusively by men) that perform the Dança dos Paus (Dance of the Sticks) a warrior dance, whose origins are, as I said, unknown, even though some link it to ancient Greece, others to ancient Rome and others still to the Celts...

In truth, there is nothing even close to it in all the rest of Portugal and it is quite interesting to see a performance of the Paulitiros with their white vests and colourful scarves. 

Central to the performance are the sticks that the dancers manipulate throughout the dance, simulating a combat with them.

In Gujarat, India, a dance called Dandyia also calls on the dancers to exchange hits on the sticks they manipulate, simulating a fight between Goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura.

The two dances and those who perform it were chosen to be highlighted in the very beautiful Joint Portugal-India issue dated of 07JAN2027, celebrating 500 years of interaction between the two countries.

The Indian issue can bee seen on the cover Ravi sent, the stamps being framed by a reproduction of another element that is common to both cultures: ceramic tiles.

Incidentally the Portuguese issue differs slightly from the Indian version in that the background of the stamps is of a different colour - orange for the Pauliteiros and Green for the Dandiya dancers.

Of note is the fact that very recently, last April to be more precise, Portugal and India have issued another exceptionally beautiful joint-issue, this time celebrating 50 years of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the two stamps being again illustrated with traditional costumes.

The nice pictorial cancellation was applied at the philatelic bureau of the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore.