“ P O S T C A R D “
Rajdep Dey
In recent times we all get to know each other very quickly which was not possible before.
I remember, long ago in my locality there used to be only one PCO booth which was also a
part of a grocery store. The shopkeeper used to come running out of the shop and cry out the
name of the person who received the call in the neighbourhood and everyone peeked from
their ‘verandah’ to know who it was for. We as kids would run to the shop when a call would
come from my uncle's house. Especially on Sundays I used to see my ‘Ma’ and ‘didi’ (elder
sister) all dressed up nicely and immediately I would suspect a call surely had come from my
grandfather around 12’O clock. I used to lean over the ‘verandah’ and waited for my turn.
Now those days have become history. Stories have taken a nostalgic form.
That was one.
The other was hand-written letters on postcards. Those postcards remind me of my
childhood. Personally, I never wrote to any but my hobby was to collect new postcards.
Another one was the old lottery tickets. I used to collect them from the people in my
neighbourhood and I kept those tickets in my aluminium box which was mainly used for my
books. Sometimes I used to play ‘monopoly’ with them.
Those post cards were very close to my heart and often I found myself writing on them to
observe my handwriting skill. I still didn’t part with this old habit of mine. Fun fact, that time
was 90’s and even today the price of the post cards remained exactly the same, 50 paisa. In
the past few years, somehow I got detached form this practice. During 2020’s lockdown I
reconnected with my past self and started collecting some postcards again and drew pictures
on them. However, this time the intention is different from what I had in childhood.
Now I think differently, after graduating, still there is not much money in my pocket. For this
buying cheap things has become my constant tendency and postcards are cheap. On the other
hand, the postcard has only been used for the purpose of writing but drawing, sketches,
painting can also be executed on them to convey or aid a message. I have seen Nandalal Basu's
paintings sometimes done on postcards but I don't know if his and my motives are the same.
It is very difficult to buy postcards at the post office now a day. With the passing time the
printing presses are becoming obsolete day by day. One of my efforts is to create a harmony
between the press, especially post cards along with modern means of communication. I wish
the people to relive the age old tradition and feel the beauty and pleasure of writing and
drawing.
I want to share many such postcards with you and I expect post cards from your side as well.
