Sending Picture Postcards to Foreign Nation...

So today I went to send the first 5 postcards of Postcrossing to my local Post-Office, there I asked the clerk on how much worth postal-stamps are to be affixed on the Picture Postcards. To my surprise the clerk didn't know anything about the picture postcards or the stamps to be fixed on them. He directed me to the Post-Master, I asked him the same.

His reply shocked me. He told me that the custom department do not allow open documents to travel outside the nation and I have to put the postcards in an envelop; after which postal-stamp worth INR 25/- is to be affixed on it for common post. 

There was no point arguing with that old man who didn't know anything about the international postal charges for picture postcards. I came back home and did some research over the internet to end up with something extremely interesting.

I reached to the official website of Postal Department of India where I went a bit further exploring into its Tools section and came across some interesting discovery on this particular Postage Calculator Page. Here one could see the real time Postal Charges for;

1. Domestic Services
2. Miscellaneous Items
3. International Services

I went to the third; International Services, which has a simple menu that plays only on Java enabled systems. So people, keep the Java updated on your computer and smartphones. Within a minute this is what I find;

1. International Picture Postcard Tariff (Land/Ship): INR 7/-
2. International Picture Postcard Tariff (Air Mail): INR 12/-

The second option is the best because it would take a maximum time of 60 days to reach the remote most corner of the globe. One of my postcards took a mere 12 days to reach Belarus through Air Mail. The first option of Land/Ship may be the cheapest, but it's not the best as the snail will beat the mail by miles.

Happy Postcrossing!!!

How to wear Kacha-Saree: The Traditional Santha Dress for Women

A friend of mine asked me long back on how to tie a traditional Santhal Saree, which we call Kachha-Saree. Here is the entire process in pictures.

Postcrossing!!!

So today I have joined this wonderful project called Postcrossing. The object of this peculiar project is to let people send and receive postcards from strangers across the world. The strangers are equally interested in sending and receiving picture postcards from other people. All this is done for "Free"! The primary idea here is to 'send a postcard and receive one from a random sender'.

Now you must be thinking, why someone would even want to send or receive Picture Postcards in the time of digital era. Well, there are many people who still like to send and receive the real snail mail. The best part of this entire process is the element of pure surprise that comes with the postcards, which one receives from various places across the globe. Some of the places you may have never known or heard of; it increases your geographical knowledge as well as political knowledge about the world in general.

How does Postcrossing work?

Once you have registered yourself on Postcrossing for free, you have to;

1. Request the address for a postcard recipient from the website with a Postcrossing ID
2. Now write the address of the recipient with the Postcrossing ID on the postcard
3. Post the postcard duly stamped
4. Now wait for your own postcard to arrive
5. Once you receive a postcard, register it on the system with its Postcrossing ID

Don't forget to upload the picture of the postcard that you send or receive.

Initially you can send a maximum of 5 postcards at a single time. Each time one of your sent postcards will be registered by it's recipient, you may request for another address promptly. The permissable number of the postcards allowed to be sent, increases when you gradually cross the certain set number of postcards.

I have sent 5 postcards today. Will update as soon as I get my own postcard from someone or the recipients of my postcards would receive their's. For your reference, here is the link to my Postcrossing Profile.