26- DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO GIRLS DISCUSSING ABOUT THEIR HOBBIES

Pomi: Asslam-o-Alaikum! How are you?

Pinki: Wa’alaikum-us-Salaam! I am perfectly fine, thank you.

Pomi: I am in luck, Pinki. My uncle has just sent me a letter from Japan, where he is on business, with some Japanese stamps. He knows I collect them and often sends me foreign stamps from the places he visits.

Pinki: They look rather nice. Are you going to paste them in your album?

Pomi: Yes, here it is. I have got quite a nice collection now.

Pinki: What a lot! French, Italian, Dutch, German, American, Turkish, Nepalese, Danish, British etc. You seem to have some from almost every country.

Pomi: Oh! There are a lot I have not got yet. And some rare ones are very expensive, and cost a big amount of money.

Pinki: But what is the use of collecting stamps?

Pomi: Oh! Well, it’s a hobby. And it teaches you some geography; and sometimes it brings money.

Pinki: How is that?

Pomi: Why, a really good collection sometimes sells for thousands of rupees. Why don’t you go in for stamp-collecting?

Pinki: I like something more active. My hobby is collecting ferns and wild flowers. And to get these you have to go long country walks, and explore the woods, and climb the hills, It is quite an adventure when you find a rare plant or fern in some wild place.

Pomi: But what do you do with them when you get them?

Pinki: I press them, and then mount them neatly on sheets of paper, and name them. I have got quite a nice collection.

Pomi: How do you press them?

Pinki: I lay the fern or plant between sheets of paper, and put them in a press, or under a board with heavy weights. You have to change the blotting-paper every day, and in about a week the plant is dried and pressed, and will last like that for years.

Pomi: Do you know what is collection of stamps said to be?

Pinki: No, I don’t have any idea about it? If you know then please, tell me now.

Pomi: It is said to be philately. The study of stamps is also called philately.

Pinki: Thank you for enlightening my view about the stamp collecting.

Pomi: Tell me that what is the benefit of your hobby?

Pinki: Well, it teaches me a lot of botany; and takes me into beautiful country; and does me good physically, because it means exercise in the open air.

Pomi: Your hobby is also very desirable.

Pinki: OK, I am going back home now.

Pomi: Of course, you may leave now. Allah Hafiz.

Pinki: Allah Hafiz.