The sense of insecurity, financial, social or personal, has blemished the traditional joy and excitement associated with Eid ul Fitr this year. The series of terror attacks, skyrocketing inflation and catastrophic caused by flood 2010 has changed the cultural landscape altogether. Result: Like many cultural hallmarks of festive days, the old tradition of buying greeting cards and sending them to friends and family member.
Exchange of greeting cards plays an important role in display of love, affection, emotions and nearness. It has been an established tradition to send greetings on Eid days as well as on occasions like birthdays, marriages, charismas, New Year, on passing exams just to name a few.
Personally speaking, I miss greeting cards very much. A greeting card delivered by a postman, with its lines of handwriting, loops and angles that give a reflection of personality and, perhaps, secrets tucked inside. Waiting for the postman to receive a card from someone special is old fashioned I still cherish opening envelops, reading, and reading them again. There is a romance in writing and receiving greeting cards. Sadly, I didn’t get any this time.
The messages printed on the greeting cards are poetic, passionate, persuasive and very comforting. They are some time sentimental, silly, sweet, sensitive, religious and sometime historic. The cards meet the requirements of all the conceivable situations in the human relationship. There are in endless varieties, designs, shapes and sizes from simple messages like ‘I wish you were here with me on this Eid’ to such questions as ‘I often wonder what made us fall in love’ and more.
With rather longer prelude, endeavour here is to look into cause of the slow death of this beautiful cultural tradition and related print industry. Before the prevailing depression in collective mood due to security threats and economic crunch, the cultural custom of sending greetings gave way to the Internet users when they started exchanging e-greetings through the Internet and cell phones. Now Hundreds of sites offering free e-greeting cards have come up on the Internet and they all are innovatively competing with each other to attract the every growing users’ base.
Internet has become an inseparable part of everyday life everywhere in the world. Their usage is exponentially growing (thanks to the near pure competition). What is surprising is that the Internet has taken over old cultural tradition like sending and receiving greeting cards.
Over the years, innovative trend of e-greeting has brought many radical changes in the designs, colour and themes of the e-cards but the initial significance of this tradition remained the same. What started as a data transferring device has come a long way and has become multifunctional – sending and reviving e-cards being one of the most popular functions. It is simple. Process takes only a few seconds, and it is trendier, it is cool. That is why millions of e-cards conveying greetings are already flying through the cyber space from one computer to another.
"I used to send so many greeting cards to my friends and family members through snail mail on every Eid in the past. Now I am sending and receiving greetings through my cell phone," emails Zaheer Hassan, IT professional who has migrated to Australia only about two months ago. His parents are in Pakistan and in laws in UAE, "I am saving lot of money and hassle."
Eid card sellers, publishers and distributors are losing profit. Umar Kahn, one of the established greeting card sellers in Multan says, "As usual we had ordered and stocked cards to meet the needs of consumers. We removed books and magazines to make place for the cards display. But this year there were very few customers. We are only losing profit but imagine the publishers who have to lift back all unsold cards. The increasing traffic on cell phones is service providers' gain and loss for the card publishers it seems.”
"Some other things that are sustaining the greeting card printing industry are increase in population and new entrants in the industry," says marketing executive Nadeem Moeen. "New entrants who come with new ideas and hopes are still there in any business despite the visible slum," he adds.
The greeting card printers and importers have been in business for quite some time. Early greeting cards are some of the most beautiful cards ever printed. Publishers competing for sales, printed cards using intricate embossing techniques, high quality art work, superior inks, expensive lithographic processes and even novelty additions such as glitter, ribbons, silk, music and feathers. With the proliferation of computers and cell phones, they have to look for other innovations may be.
In Pakistan, Internet users’ base has grown exponentially over past years. Similarly, cell phones have become ubiquitous and most of the population is equipped with cell phones, some with enhancements such as camera capabilities depending upon affordability and coverage of the area by cell service providers. Pervasiveness and the particularities of its usage are leading to developing online culture, in this context, on the coast of greeting cards printing industry. "I can see the time when greeting cards will only be found with collectors or only businesses and organizations will be the only users," wistfully says Umar Khan.
At least for the near future, I do not expect personal mail habits of the older segment of the society to change," says Dr. Muhammad Anwar, a sociologist and a card collector. Dr. Anwar has maliciously filed all the cards he had received in life, “Greeting cards in print are a traditional form of expressing one's emotions. On the other hand, the idea of e-greetings is undeniably relevant today, and it is intriguing. Trend has to change one day, adds Dr. Anwar.
Caption: Scan image of eid greeting card that was pasted by my friend Jalal Hamid Bhatti on the notice board of our platoon [Khalid - 4, 55 PMA] in Pakistan Military Academy in 1975.
