As I move around the world, postcards are a tangible way to tell people that I’m thinking of them |
Returning home after an exhausting day, I open my letterbox to find a colourful creature on a thick white postcard. There is a short message with jumbled letters on barely erased pencilled lines: “happy birthday Minoli nenda”. (Nenda is aunt in Sinhala.) I put down my bags and breathe.
As I move around the world, postcards have become a way to tell people I love that I’m thinking of them. It’s not a picture that I post on Instagram Stories that disappears in 24 hours or a WhatsApp message that gets lost among the many notifications. A postcard is tangible. It is real.
The sending of a postcard is a labour of love, and picking the perfect one is an art. The image says something about the connection between me and my recipient; the common threads that join us. Deciding what to write and the process of putting pen to paper is therapeutic. It makes the recipient a part of my day, as I invite them to share a moment sitting on the grass in the sun or rattle along with me on a shaky train.
Then there’s the procurement of stamps, which involves figuring out when the post office is open........