Postcards from Goa to the world

Postcards have an old charm but with Postcrossing, this hobby has turned into a new passion for people of different age groups across the world. In Goa too, philatelists are in search for new as well as vintage postcards that take Goa to different destinations. On World Postcard Day, postcrossers share their love for displaying the beauty of Goa on a tiny rectangular postcard and connecting with the world
Postcards from Goa to the world
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Finding a postcard in our mailbox is pure joy. From the carefully handwritten messages, to the colorful images and stamps, postcards are little surprises that delight, inspire and connect the world. The official postcard of the World Postcard Day 2024 is designed by illustrator Rose Wong and it celebrates this year's theme, ‘The timeless magic of the post’.

Renowned cartoonist of India, Mario Miranda created a collection of postcards in 1964 using his cartoons on famous places in Goa, including Reis Magos and Fontainhas. Gerard da Cunha, curator of Mario Gallery, says, “Mario was 21 years old when he created the postcards. It was a set of eight postcards but the same is still available at the Mario Gallery. I have used his cartoons to create a collection of 20 fun postcards which showcases celebrations in Goa like feasts and Carnival and other Goan scenes.”

One of the first photographers in Goa to turn his photographs into postcards is Mapusa-based Thomas Vaz. Now an octogenarian, he was awarded the Goa State Cultural Award in 1999-2000 for his efforts in documenting the landscape of Goa in the early 70s and 80s. His postcards which feature Goan life in the 1980s are now vintage postcards which show the pristine beaches of Goa.

Pantaleao Fernandes has been photographing the quiet side of the villages of Goa for over 25 years. His picture perfect photos are always great to be sent as postcards to show the rural Goa to the world. He has released three sets of postcards. Before his first coffee table book was out, it was Pantaleao’s postcards that were sold out. “The first series was on houses of God with postcards on churches, temples and mosques. It was a series of 12 cards,” says Pantaleao, who is also a postcrosser.

His second series was on the village life which showed the traditional occupations of Goa including toddy tappers and fishermen in their traiditional attire. His third collection of postcards was on the tribes of Goa including the Kunbi and Dhangars. Speaking about the demand for postcards, Pantaleao says, “There is demand now again for postcards. Earlier, there was demand and now with postcrossing and people writing postcards, the demand has come back.” He doesn’t go intentionally to click photographs for postcards but uses some from his collection itself. For the past one year, Pantaleao is focusing on his next collection of postcards that will focus on St Francis Xavier because of the exposition.

The Goa Philatelic and Numismatic Society (GPNS) was formed in 1975, has been reviving this passion and energising it by involving young school students to collect stamps. Ashlesh Kamat from Margao, the vice president of GPNS, has been a postcrosser who sends his postcards from Goa to fellow postcrossers across the world. As an artist, he and his wife Siya Nadkarni, have also designed covers and postcards for the Goa Division. “It is easy to source postcards in Goa. There are noted photographers in Goa who have a collection of postcards. I also order postcards only. There are also artists who sell their postcards at pop-up markets. The trend is certainly catching up,” says Ashlesh, who is looking forward to the World Postcard Day celebrations in Panjim.

The Postcrossing project was created in 2005 by Paulo Magalhães from Portugal and Ana Campos designed the first logo and after much indecision about the name, on July 14, 2005 the Postcrossing Project was open to everyone. They both run it together and have some volunteers. The popularity of Postcrossing came to Goa in 2013 where some of the first and consistent postcrossers have crossed 5000 postcards. With an enthusiastic and encouraging postcrossing community in Goa, the number of Goans joining the free postcard exchange system is increasing.

A postcrossing meet-up will be organised today at the Philately Bureau at the Head Post Office, Panjim by Kenny Silveira from Dona Paula. He has been a postcrosser since 2013 and has been passionate about sending and receiving postcards. The meet up will be held from 10 am to 12 pm.

“I'll be providing some postcards to anyone who would like to post. The postcards will be available at the Philately Bureau with stamps, so anybody can come to the bureau and they can pick up a postcard and post it anywhere, internationally and even to their loved ones. It is an occasion to celebrate the postcard, and we'll also be writing postcards to charities, as there are some international charity organisations that accept postcards,” says Kenny.

He further adds, “We'll be writing our usual postcrossing related cards, as we'll be sending postcards as part of Postcrossing and swapping with other people who are having meet ups all across the world. We’ll reach out to them and then we swap meetup cards, and then we have a design meetup card for an official Goa Postcrossing meetup card. We’ll also have a small one frame exhibit on a couple of posters on Postcrossing. I've designed a postcard for World Postcard Day Goa, which will be also be available at the bureau.”

There is an official World Postcard Day postcard, and different meetups across the world have their own local postcards. “The first meetup was held in 2021 in Goa. In 2022 and 2023, there were not official meetups, so we didn't get them registered. 2024 is an official meetup, a part of the postcrossing community. There is going to be a cancellation for World Postcard Day by the Bureau. It is like a fun thing that on World Postcard Day everybody gets together. The best part is connecting with everybody else who are also doing meetups across the world. I am good friends with Paulo and Ana, who started postcrossing. The website was started by Paolo with a computer in his bedroom and he started a server from there. Now, it has grown into a global phenomenon and Goa too is part of it,” says Kenny enthusiastically.

All one has to do this World Postcard Day is to find a fun postcard and mail it to your loved ones far and wide to show that you remembered them on a special day

Herald Goa
www.heraldgoa.in