India Post is making old-school collecting cool again

findemember last year, when everyone briefly lost their minds over reports that India Post was getting rid of its iconic red post boxes? It turned out to be a misunderstanding around the withdrawal of registered post as a service rather than the great post-box extinction event the internet had anticipated. But for a minute, it did make us look at the post office a little differently. There was something strangely comforting about the nostalgia it stirred up.

I have my own India Post nostalgia. My first piggy bank was in the shape of an India Post postbox, complete with the little slot where you fed in coins. I’ve also collected postcards over the years, albeit rather unsuccessfully. These days, between WhatsApp and the fact that most people under 30 would probably prefer a text to a handwritten letter, the hobby has become an occasional affair reserved for birthdays and trips to the post office. Unless, of course, you’ve discovered art mail, which has been having a revival of its own, with more people in India getting into the joy of sending and receiving illustrated, collaged and otherwise very pretty bits of post. Which is why it’s rather delightful to see India Post figuring out that the way to make the post office relevant again isn’t to make it less analogue but to make the analogue stuff worth collecting.

Take Karnataka’s Philately Passport, which sent philatelists and curious travellers into a minor frenzy last month. The ₹600 booklet contains around 100 permanent pictorial cancellations, which you can collect from designated post offices near heritage sites, museums, wildlife destinations, and other landmarks across the state. Like Japan’s Eki stamps that travellers can find at local train stations, this one is like a travel scavenger hunt, except your souvenir is a tiny postal cancellation rather than another fridge magnet.

The latest restock saw around 1,500 passports distributed across Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Mangaluru, with more than 1,000 copies going to the Bengaluru GPO. They were expected to last two days. They vanished within hours instead, with people lining up from 5:30 am for the sale. Shreya Kamath, a 26-year-old Bengaluru-based philatelist, got hers in Mangaluru, where the crowd was considerably calmer. Her Reel about the passport, meanwhile, has racked up 1.5 million views and more than 400 comments, introducing a whole new audience to the hobby.

Judging by her DMs, the passport has already escaped its philately niche. “My DMs have been flooded with requests from people asking me if I have a spare copy that I could sell. They ask me for updates about the restocking,” she says. “So many people ask me questions about what the passport is, what philately is, how to plan their trips, what to do after they go to the post office, whom to meet there, what to ask for.” And she thinks the next round in Mangaluru could look very different. “I’m very sure it’ll turn out like Bengaluru next time when the passports are reissued,” she says. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for Delhi to get something similar. No such luck yet, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

The passport is only one part of India Post’s attempt to make itself a little more appealing to a new age cohort. Over the past year, post offices, particularly on college campuses, have been getting makeovers too, with colourful murals, better seating, and Wi-Fi, giving these spaces a little more personality and making a visit to the post office a slightly more pleasant affair.

Brands, meanwhile, are cashing in on stamps for the tiny art collectibles they have always been. Earlier this year, Maggi marked 50 years in India with a customised My Stamp sheet featuring its familiar yellow packet, a steaming bowl, and illustrations of people sharing a bowl together. At around ₹700 on sites such as Phila Art, it is also a pretty perfect gift for the Maggi enthusiast in your life: the friend who made it through hostel nights almost entirely on two-minute noodles, or the one who still considers a bowl of Maggi a legitimate meal.

And it doesn’t stop at the cute, commercial stuff. Earlier this month, India Post released a stamp marking the birth centenary of artist Satish Gujral, featuring one of his rare self-portraits. It is being made available through 72 Philately Bureaux across India, alongside limited-edition centenary collectibles. For his daughter Raseel Gujral, the appeal lies in precisely how long a stamp can live beyond the moment it commemorates. “Long after an exhibition closes or a catalogue goes out of print, a stamp remains part of the country’s historical archive.” And in an increasingly digital world, she adds, “its physicality is precisely what gives it meaning. A stamp is something you can hold, preserve and pass on”.

Beyond stamps, India Post has also been finding ways to turn art and craft into accessible little collectibles. One of the more charming examples is what it has done with Ganjifa. Last year, it turned Sawantwadi’s 500-year-old tradition of hand-painted playing cards into the country’s first-ever circular postcards, with each of the 10 cards featuring artwork inspired by the Dashavatara. The postcards were made in partnership with Sawantwadi Palace, the boutique hotel, and with artisans who still practise the craft today. “The response to the Ganjifa cards has been fabulous,” says Shraddha Raje Bhosale, the mayor of Sawantwadi and owner of the Sawantwadi Palace. The price is part of the appeal too: a set of 10 postcards costs around ₹350 to ₹400, while an actual hand-painted Ganjifa deck can set you back around ₹10,000. It’s an accessible way to take home a piece of the craft while still retaining the hand-painted artwork and storytelling that make Ganjifa so special.