Revive the Tradition

The last festive season, we embarked on a mission inspired by a lady in a far away country. It was beginning of December of 2014 and the time when most of the places in the world are in a festive mood, some more than others. We were on a train and we saw a lady, from a couple of generation before us, having a glass of wine and writing the Xmas and New Year cards.

I thought why not try revive the old traditions of sending cards for the festive seasons to some of our friends and relatives. That way we will give a chance for the postman to shake their legs a bit. . Cards and letter are fast getting extinct and by now and I do not see anyone campaigning to save the post box.  My last “partner in post” has also given up about two years back and got baptised to the internet. When I started to receive response to my letters through emails, I did not know how to react. It took the experience out of getting informed though I got the response almost instantly. I had no idea if I wanted to get a response so instantly but in the process brought the whole communication business to a standstill.

So we bought some art papers and started to create our cards right from the scratch and managing the envelope was as difficult a challenge as the card itself. Trust me it is not as easy as you would imagine when you start something that you have not done for such a long period of time. It reminded me of Shakespeare’s quote from The Merchant of Venice.....

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages princes' palaces. “

But there was no going back and I took out my old address book form an old trunk (the one made of real paper) and drew up a list of friends and relatives with still valid addresses. The list was as follows:

Kolkata -              8

Mumbai -             2

Pune -                   2

Delhi –                 2

Bahrain -              2

Bangalore –         1

Agartala -            1

Doha -                 1

Al Khobar -         1

Muscat -              1

London -             1

Finally it was time to go to the post office and buy the stamps, stick them to the envelope and drop those in the mail box. Even though it cost a small fortune, it was worth it as my daughter got the first taste of writing and posting a real letter. This was our contribution in reviving the tradition and also give “Stamp collection” another chance.

However, 4 months later there seems to be still 6 cards undelivered. It appears that it will take more effort to remove the rust out of the postal system. Come December, we shall have another attempt.