By SHEFA RAFI
New Year Greetings Thru’ Inland Letter Card
With communication going hitech with email, sms, whatsapp and voice mail replacing the age-old custom of sending postcard and Inland letter card, greeting the near and dear ones besides friends on important occasions has become more quick and easy. However, oldtimers still stick to the old method to keep the tradition alive.
Retired postmaster Kovaipudur N Hariharan is one among the senior citizen to make it a point to greet his friends by sending post card and Inland letter card. Interestingly, he derives joy in sending hand written greetings which he has been doing even during his service and post retirement. No doubt, old habits die hard. 
What more, Hariharan, who worked as a PR executive in the postal department developed intimacy with not just Kovaiites, but people from far off places in other districts. Indeed, he is a ‘Brand ambassador for India Post’ as he promotes and popularises postal items among the public more so the younger generation.
Retired, but not tired of working for Hariharan, who was the first recipient of Meghdoot award by postal department besides six awards in appreciation for his unique suggestions which were implemented by the department.
It may be noted that the Department of Posts, Tamil Nadu circle conducted a letter writing contest for school children in 2018 in a bid to boost use of the post cards and inland letters on the theme ‘Letter to My Motherland’. And there was overwhelming response from the school students as it gave them not only an opportunity to write, but also created an habit of using postcards. It may be noted that Chennai city region had sold nearly 61 lakh post cards in 2015-16 while the sale of inland letters stood at 13 lakh pieces in 2017-18. Meanwhile, a statistics reveals that 4.80 crore inland letters were sold at 159 post-offices across the country in 2015 while the number of postcards sold at 13 crore in 2015. And the Meghdoot postcards with a space dedicated to ads posted an impressive sale of around 26 lakh in 2010 and 21 lakh in 2015.
