The joy of greeting

Unique Hobbies

In this era, everything is digitalised. E-paper, emails, online shopping, e-cards....One has moved from the traditional world to a virtual world where everything is software based.

But taking us back to the sphere of physical cards is Satish KN, a retired businessman. An impassioned collector, he has more than 1,000 greeting cards and wedding cards that are noted for their unique messages and high creativity.

3D effect cards, cheque leaf cards, cutout model cards, mug / tabla and newspaper cards...he has a collection of all of these, that are rarely seen in the present day.

“I started collecting cards from my college times. My father worked at ‘New India Insurance Company’ then. There was this one time where my father’s colleague sent us a beautiful card.

The look of the card attracted me and it has been 45 years. Since then I have been collecting cards,” says Satish. Wedding, birthday, new year and festive cards. He has some beautiful cards that are no more to be seen in this digital era.

“I have musical cards with very beautiful messages. I also have a card that has a cut out of a house that pops out as you open the card.  There is another card with spring attached, that has a girl dancing,” he says excitedly. But not all cards are qualified to join his collections. “I do not add simple cards to my collections.

They should be special in one way or the other. There is this wedding card that depicts the significance of marriage with colourful illustrations from the epic ‘Ramayana’,” he says.
Having a  huge collection of cards, he has been approached by many to have a peek at these cards and take some creative insights. “I used to run an advertising agency for 33 years.

While I was still working, my colleagues approached me to have a look at these unique cards to implement some creativity in their work,” he says. He also laments, “There were times where my guests used to take these cards to get their cards designed the same way.

They used to take almost 10 cards for reference and only five cards would be returned. This was painful and thereafter I stopped lending my cards to anyone.” A passionate hoarder, he also used to make unique greeting cards. “I used to make these cards myself and my friends used to buy these cards from me,” he reminisces.

While most of his cards have been received personally by him, there are a few cards that were also purchased by him. “I have received these cards by post from my friends and relatives.

I have also purchased a few as they were very eye-catchy,” he says. His wife Geetha also helps him by collecting cards from their relatives. However, the unique musical cards that sing as you open them has remained his favourite. “These cards are very interesting to me and they are high on creativity. They give me a peace of mind,” he says.

He adds that he is saddened by the present day electronic cards which he terms as mechanical way of conveying one’s feelings. “People now-a-days just compose the matter and send it across via email. This is way too mechanical. There is no creativity involved and they are not even impressive,” he expresses sadly.

The technology has evolved so much that there is hardly any scope for creativity he opines. “The cards before used to be customised. But no more can we find them now. That delight of giving a greeting card has also faded making everything digitalised,” he wraps up.