We are nearing Christmas and New Year and my mind goes back to the early seventies when I was in college. Those were the days when we used to shop for Christmas and New Year cards in order to send them to our friends and relatives. We used to buy cards which had beautiful words that specifically expressed our wishes for each person. The money at our disposal would of course be limited, as those were the times of limited pocket money.
The card hunting started with a visit to the famous book shop Higginbotham’s in Chennai. The cards, whose prices ranged from 25 paise to five rupees, would be stacked on the stands. To mix and match the prices and our sentiments was quite a job. Of course we would also go to the smaller shops on the roadside where we could getter cheaper cards for ten paise. It was an enjoyable exercise though.We had to do all the shopping much before Christmas holidays as in those days, the post offices would be so overburdened with the plethora of greeting cards that they would be at times be sent in mid-January even if posted in mid-December.
We hostellers in the convent college where I studied were allowed to go shopping only once in a month, accompanied by a senior or a nun.One particular year, we had the half-yearly exams early in December and so we were not allowed to go out shopping. There was no way to make our purchase of greeting cards. Some of us at the hostel then decided to send handmade cards.
The paper was available in the hostel store. We got watercolours and oil paint and made cards. Leaves and flowers were plucked, dried and pasted on the cards. The more innovative among us even got dead butterflies and stuck them on to the cards. The main idea was that our friends and relatives should get a personal card from us.
Now things have become so easy but so impersonal. Greeting cards and messages of all varieties can be downloaded and sent through social media networks like WhatsApp or email. There is no shopping with friends for cards to express our feelings, no hassle of writing out addresses, sticking stamps and depositing these in the postbox. But the charm is lost, as somewhere something seems missing.
Although we have come a long way from those days, we of that generation do miss the bonhomie and fun. Oh, for those good old times!