Permanent Pictorial Cancellation : St. Mary's Island

 Permanent Pictorial Cancellation

 St. Mary's Island

St. Mary's Islands, are a set of four small islands (Coconut Island, North Island, South Island, and Daryabahadurgarh Island) in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka. According to folk legend, in the year 1498, Vasco da Gama landed at St. Mary's Islands on his journey from Portugal, fixed a cross on the island,  and named one of these islands, O Padrão de Santa Maria, as a dedication to Mother Mary, before proceeding to Kozhikode in Kerala. It is from this name that the islands got their current name.  There is no habitation on these islands. 

Out of the 4 islands, the northernmost island has a Basaltic rock formation in a hexagonal form, the only one of its type which is seen in India's St. Mary’s Island, Malpe. Scientific studies indicate that the basalt of the St. Mary's Islands was formed by sub-aerial subvolcanic activity. Till around 88 Mya, Madagascar was attached to this island.  

The islands form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, one of the 34 Geological Monuments of India declared by the Geological Survey of India in 2001. The monument is considered an important site for "Geo Tourism". 

On 17th January 2015, India Post introduced permanent pictorial cancellation which depicts the hexagonal unique rock formation.  Thanks to the India post, recently they have adopted self ink cancellation from the conventional one.  Because of that, the cancellation is better and clear.

Thanks to Mr. Shashwath, MTS - Malpe office, who helped me with the cancellation.  Those who want this PPC can write to "The postmaster, Malpe post office, Malpe, Pincode - 576108".  They can be reached at (0820) 2538924.