You’ve got mail: Four unique ways in India to write a letter to yourself

Last week we found ourselves writing a letter to our future self We sat a RumBabaa cafeacute in Andheri where guests can get off their digital worlds for a bit and write themselves a handwritten note The young folks at Dear Tomorroww that are running the project promise to mail it to you after six months a year or three depending on your pick A trolley full of paper sketch pens and stamps cornered us at our pensive bestPiciStockCoowner of the cafeacute Sandeep Ailsinghani tells us ldquoIrsquom a 1980born from the telephone generation We would receive so many letters in that era The process of waiting for a letter has been lost and we wanted to revive itrdquo Worldover snail mail is crawling back into busy digital lives This is your cue Write yourself a letter or receive a handwritten one or arty collections in your mail box We have a list of cool peeps to sign up withWrite a letter to your future selfWhat deartomorrowwActivity available at RumBabaa Cafeacute Veera Desai Road Andheri WestCost Rs 300 per letterThe founders of Dear Tomorroww Krishi Bhanushali and Rut Bhadra have been inspired by post offices in Vietnam where tourists write letter to themselves that they receive by the time they return to their home countryDear Tomorroww a letter writing project is run by 18and 20yearold Krishi Bhanushali and Rut Bhadra This year a week before Valentinersquos Day the two friends went cafeacutehopping pitching a letter writing activity Out of 15 one showed interest ldquoThat was how we started We got 40 letters More people started showing up to the cafeacuterdquo says Bhadra The duo was inspired by post offices in Vietnam where tourists write letter to themselves that they receive by the time they return to their home country In the digital age everyone is texting ldquoWhen we were brainstorming we were targeting Gen Z But turns out Millennials are really digging thisrdquoMail DropWhat A monthly artfocused surprise packageCost Rs 318How to sign up mymuseumhouseJai VermaJai Verma an interior designer and event management professional from Gurugram was drawn towards content creation For his last semester of college he designed a stool To test it he made a smaller prototype toy that anyone could assemble ldquoThis gave me the idea to create Mail Drop I follow no theme I create sticker sheets an interactive activity and many more things I also get my artiste friends to share prints of their artworks The envelope is a compilation of my work and a lot of different artistesrdquo says Verma The name ldquoLeeMaildropsrdquo is inspired by his sister whom he fondly calls Lee What started with 27 close friends signing up for a test drive has now become a monthly club where letters are delivered to 80100 peopleAt Mail Drop what started with 27 close friends signing up for a test drive has now become a monthly club where letters are delivered to 80100 peopleKahani Ka PitaraSign up kahanikapitara on InstagramCost Rs 1000 for 4 monthsKatyani Bopardikar KelkarEvery month Katayani Bopardikar Kelkar picks a theme Based on it she begins to write a story that will be the highlight of the package her subscribers will receive ldquoI like to look at its personality its weather its little rituals and the feelings it brings with it For July for example the rain became the starting point Once I have the world of the story I share three story topics with the Guardians on our created Instagram community group chat They vote for the one they want to read next This way the month sets the mood and the Pitara brings it to liferdquoKahani ka Pitara brings a new story every month to readersThe heart of every Pitara is an original story Around it I build a little world There could be an artwork a readerrsquos ritual postcards stickers a bookmark a map a foldable or another story inspired collectible ldquoI donrsquot want the things inside to feel like extras Everything has to belong to the storyldquoI have always been someone who gets a little too attached to stories The kind of person who rereads a favourite paragraph remembers a line years later Kahani ka Pitara came from that feeling I wanted to create a space where stories could exist outside screens againrdquo says KelkarDaak SahibaWhat Receive a letter by postCost Rs 400 per monthHow to sign up daaksahiba on InstagramGurugrambased content marketer Harneet Kaur started Daak Sahiba on Instagram on a whim six months agoContent marketer Harneet Kaur says ldquoDaak sahiba started as my platform to dive into handwritten letters and mail My monthly subscriptions have a theme a few including monsoon and whimsyrdquo Kaur tells us Shersquos currently building an offline newsletter all about stamps Her recent post highlights an annual letter India Post writing competition Dhai Akhar ldquoThis year the theme is Mother Earth The last date of submission is October 31rdquo she explains