Spice of life | Revisiting postcards: Portals to the past, lands unseen

Alas! The culture of sending postcards is dying out, replaced by sharing photographs over email, WhatsApp, Facebook and on other social media platforms

Blurb: Alas! the culture of sending postcards is dying out, replaced by sharing photographs over email, WhatsApp, Facebook and on other social media platforms

A copper postcard of an African bazaar near the Congo River, which had been sent by a student, grabbed everybody’s attention. (Representative Image/HT File)

I was on a decluttering spree when I came across a neglected stack of postcards, carefully tucked at the bottom of my bookshelf.

After the serendipitous discovery, I decided it was time to revisit my vast collection of postcards – a colourful reminder of the places I have visited or long to visit. Some of them have been sent by friends who have settled in distant lands, while others were sent by former students, who know of my love for postcards.

While I was reminiscing, I coincidentally received a phone call from a childhood friend, who told me she was sending me something I would love. The next day, I received picture postcards depicting the beauty of American national parks – Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone and The Grand Canyon.

One day, I brought the postcards to work and showed them to my colleagues. It turned out we had a mutual love for these treasure troves of memories, and decided to showcase our collection. As we went through the postcards showing the spectacular Niagara Falls, NASAs astonishing exploits, the mesmerising sunrise at Kanyakumari, the serene Sanchi Stupa, the stately Vivekananda Rock Memorial, and the marvellous Lotus Temple, we virtually became globetrotters.

A copper postcard of an African bazaar near the Congo River, which had been sent by a student, grabbed everybody’s attention. The photograph seemed alive, so much so that we started guessing the names of the articles within the jute baskets, and looked up their names on the internet. It turned out we were all deltiologists, and decided to start a postcard club.

I have not travelled to all the places I want to, but I have visited them through postcards. As a youngster in the early ’80s, when the internet was unheard of, collecting picture postcards was a delightful and informative hobby. My mother encouraged us to collect the beautiful stamps, which adorned the letters sent by our England-based maternal aunt, and whenever our cousins visited India they brought us picture postcards with mesmerising landscape and architecture on them. It was our doting cousins’ way of showing us the places they had visited, and how they wished we were with them. It made us think of heavenly places and the vast world out there.

Perhaps, my favourite postcard is the one sent by my son, when he visited the Western Ghats. Another postcard close to my heart is the one sent to me by my geography teacher, which captures the beauty of snow-studded Himalayas.

Alas! the culture of sending postcards is dying out, replaced by sharing photographs over email, WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms.

This peep into the bygone culture made me promise myself that I will try to give the emails and digital greetings a rest, and send personalised handwritten notes to my loved ones. Perhaps, someone will caress the handwritten words and feel my presence around them, just as I felt theirs when I opened the stack of postcards.

ritukumar.gmn@gmail.com

The author is associate professor in English, MLN College, Yamunananagar