In an age when short messaging services (SMS) and e-mails are the norm, the forgotten art of sending letters or greetings has seen a surprising upswing. The Tamil Nadu postal department has reported a rise in mail traffic, touching more than 25 lakh a day with a projected 20 per cent increase.
"Our total mail traffic per day touched 26.5 lakh letters last year with Chennai alone contributing 10 lakh. This year we plan to increase the transactions by 20 per cent", Shanthi Nair, chief post master general told PTI.
"This includes postcards, inland letters, covers, greetings and others", she said. Nair said her department would organise more letter writing competitions for the younger generation this year to create awareness about the art of writing letters.
"To commemorate World Post Day that falls in October, we plan to organise more letter writing competitions across the state to create awareness of the art of writing letters", she said.
The present postal system in the state has its origin in the days of the East India Company. What started as a scheme to convey mails of the Company and its servants in Madras, has now grown into a mammoth network of 12,120 post offices, reaching almost every area in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
Nair said there was an increasing interest among students to pursue philately as a hobby, compared to the past.
"There are more than 190 Nehru clubs across the state in many schools (group of persons who have opened Philatelic Deposit Account (PDA) in post offices). We will encourage students to increase the clubs to more than 250 this year", she said.
"Philately is no longer a difficult hobby to pursue. No more hassles in collecting stamps. A person who has opened PDA account will automatically get the new released stamp from the postal department", she explained.
"As a new initiative, we will organise stamp exhibitions on a particular development theme in Chennai every week, which will help the younger generation know about the latest arrival of stamps across the country", she said.
