The new generation, the digital-savvy generation, may have no knowledge of the good old postcard. But those who are in their forties, fifties, sixties and so on may not forget this 4”x6” yellow card which once was the most common means of communication between humans.
In the good old days, all that you had to do was to pull out a postcard from your personal stock and put pen to paper. Information, emotions flowed so easily with pen in hand and a postcard on your study table. The space on one side and half of it on the other was enough to pour out your emotions.
Gone are those days. Today, you pick up your mobile phone, press the desired telephone number and there you are. You are instantly connected to your correspondent. And you can go on and on. Your talk time is now in your hands. Instant connect. Instant response. You can phone your friend ad infinitum.
The postcard has taken away with it the anxiety and anticipation of waiting and the thrill of receiving the card. This is the age of instant pleasures. Instant gratification. Instant satiation, perhaps. Not so with the good old postcard. The sight of the postman gladdened your heart. The postman was a special person who brought tidings from afar and after many days. He has all but disappeared these days and the courier man brings only business letters.
Nobody felt ashamed of the lowly price of the postcard. The low price did not attach any sense of low self-esteem to the postcard nor to the user of the postcard. In its early days the good old postcard cost only some paise. In today’s world, when the value of a thing is decided by its price tag, the lowly postcard could not survive, and therefore, it is all the better that, it has died a natural death, though the postal department continues to sell it.
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