THE MAN WHO STAMPED HIS PRESENCE

To date, he has collected every possible postage stamp that has been released in the UAE, right from the time they were first printed roughly four decades ago.

"Did you know," he says with the air of a competent authority "that from 1936 to 1971 only British and Indian stamps were in circulation in this part of the world?" Having acknowledged your ignorance of the aforesaid fact, he quickly moves on to embellish your limited knowledge with few more 'licky-sticky' truths. "From 1961 to early '63, Trucial State (the states that comprise the UAE were formerly known as the Trucial States, Trucial Coast, or Trucial Oman) stamps were released, and it was only in the latter half of the same year that the seven emirates came out with their own postage stamps."

And then with a pause, a precious second of licking lips in anticipation, he harnesses his memory for a few more nuggets of information. "In 1964 Abu Dhabi released its first stamp that carried the impression of Shaikh Shaikhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan — 11 versions of it in three different designs." He's built his entire philately collection spread over 12 volumes over the last 30 years that he has been in the UAE. His collection, though, he says, started much earlier, back home in the Southern Indian state of Kerala where he originally came from.

"Those were the days when there weren't any telephones, and any form of communication to your relatives had to be strictly established through post," he says of the time when he was in his early teens. "One of my uncles was working in Abu Dhabi and I was often despatched to the postoffice to collect any mail from him." And when it did arrive once in fifteen days, young Faizal was always quick to cut out the stamps. Soon a patchwork collection was ready for his uncle's inspection as and when he would come back for his holidays.

And when he did, his impressions of Faizal's collection were peppered by useful anecdotes that provided the substance — the basis to his ever-expanding knowledge of postage stamps. "He used to talk about His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who formed the basis of several collections that were released then. I was very impressed with what he had done for the Indians and the others who were living there. That's how it all got started," he says. "From that point until now, I have collected every single postage stamp to be ever released in the UAE." Unlike other philatelists he's not keen on enlarging his 'deified' collection with stamps released all over the world.

The reason, he says, is because, collecting stamps was only a secondary hobby, the primary, of course is collecting gramophone records (he has about 38,000), particularly those of Mohammed Rafi's, the legendary Indian playback singer. "Besides other artists that I have collected, I haven't missed a single Mohammed Rafi's record. Everything that was ever released finds its place in my collection." Such was his obsession, that most of what he earned during his bachelor years in Dubai was spent collecting these records. "It was the same old trek, month after month, year after year to the record shops."

And what does he plan to do with it, considering that living spaces are increasingly constricted? "I plan a museum in my home state in memory of the late singer. I am one of the leading members of his fan club and I know that a lot of people swear by his voice. Something like that would be of great interest to everybody," he says while expressing his complete disdain for modern variety of music."

He is particularly choosy about the medium that plays his music — his old trusted gramophone record player, still in mint playing condition. "I know that this is the age of the CD player, but nothing can beat the sound that comes out of my record player." he adds.

"Even today, if you give me the choice between attending a social occasion, and getting my hands on a rare postage stamp or record, I would gladly ditch the former," says Faizal. In his obsessive, compulsive desire to collect postage stamps, he has befriended lots of people — people like Tajudeen, John, Altaf — who kep him in loop when they themselves stumbled across something rare, something precious.

Over the years the value of his stamp collection too has increased, for instance the stamps commemorating the National Day in 1976. "It was a three-stamp-set that I paid two dirhams and fifty fils for. Today the same collection commands a selling price of Dh1500."

Staggering as it might seem, Faizal wants to also start collecting 'telephone cards'. "It gives me a purpose," he says.