Post card , Inland Letter and Cover - 617

                First Foray in to  Social Media 

These are now days of Instant Transfer of News , Pictures or Videos . These can now be sent to all your near and dear ones across the World in no time and sometimes even as the event is taking place . People with WHOM you are just on a HELLO term get to see all your posts .

The Internet and the Mobile Phone have  Changed the way of our daily life . ZOOM , GOOGLE MEET.  EMAIL WHATSAPP, INSTAGRAM , TWITTER are Just a few terms which are very much a part of our daily life now .

Add Amazon , Flipkart and tatacliq and you need not step out of your home for any Market  purchases . All your orders  get delivered to  your doorstep .

Net Banking , Googlepay , Rupay , Phonepay , etc have made our Monetary  Transactions even more simple . The need to carry cash in your Wallet is now a thing of the past . Plastic and Chip embedded Debit and Credit Cards are the way of life now . 

Over The Top ( OTT ) Platforms like Netflix , Amazon Prime , Disney Hotstar have changed the way we watch movies and Sporting Actions anywhere across the Globe .

 IPL Match between CSK and Mumbai Indians could be watched in the comfort of your Living Room in Toronto , Canada even as it is being contested 13000 Kms away at Chennai , India . 

During our heydays as youngsters the only Social Media that we knew or made use of was the Stationary of the good old INDIAN POSTAL SERVICES . Letters to your parents , friends and oh yes ,   to your Sweethearts if you were lucky enough to have one  were ferried by these ever obliging good  samaritans who braved the Sun , Rain or Freezing cold to get these  precious Letters delivered to the right People at their right addresses .

How can one forget the POSTCARD  ,  INLAND LETTER  (Called the England letter by many ) and the COVER  . The cheapest of the lot was the POSTCARD . It tested one's ingenuity  by making you write the words in as small as possible font and in  as close proximity to each other as possible . The trick of the trade was to write a Small Book in the space available at your disposal.  This had a downside to it as well . Anyone finding it  hard to while away his or her time  could lay his or her hands on a postcard and could read in to the contents and know all the secrets or otherwise of its contents and have a jolly good time while being at it.

THIS COST A WHOPPING  FIVE NAYA PAISE IN THE YEAR 1974 . 

Just one step ahead on the ladder was the INLAND or England Letter , this served everyones needs , both space and privacy was available to you . The flipside was that one often ended up opening the letter at the wrong place .One was never sure of where to put the Scissors or your Nails to open the same . Frequent cases of YOUR SINCERELY and the SIGNATURE of the sender at the very top of the letter starring at your face did occur from time to time .

THIS COST 15 NAYA PAISE IN THE YEAR 1974 .

Last one , the COVER , though slightly costlier had everything going , space , privacy , a show of  intimacy to your beloved one  by way of a few petals of Rose or a Picture that could also be sneaked in .

THE COST OF THE SAME IN THE YEAR 1974 WAS ALL OF 25 NP

Be it Agasthiarpatty , Mumbai , London or Toronto all the above seem to  hold true .

The much awaited Money Order from your father , the much feared Telegrams  which were in 95 % of the cases , the  harbingers of news regarding some one NEW entering your family or News about someone very close to you  who has breathed his last .  The Trunk Calls to your relatives in Chennai or Mumbai which took almost half a day to get the line through might now sound as if this was in the far off Stone Age.  It might be worth noting here that this was as recent as at the turn of the Century or till the 2000 to be more exact  .

After innumerable attempts , getting a PEN FRIEND was a hobby that many might have attempted and might have  even succeeded . The long and anxious wait to get a reply may be recalled by many . Exchange of hard copies of pictures, notes were by the India  Post only . I Remember it took almost a month to get a reply from my PEN FRIEND from  Belgium . The words COURIER SERVICES were not even born then .

It might interest a few who have not had to do anything with the INDIA POST , their charges NOW  are , 

POST CARD : 50 P

INLAND LETTER : 2 Rs 50 P

POSTAL COVER : 5 Rs 

( THIS IS 10 TIMES THE PRICE OF THE SAME SOME 50 YEARS BACK   NOT BAD BY ANY STANDARD ) 

SOCIAL MEDIA NOW IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS DURING OUR TIME .