The art of writing has been lost in today’s technologically advanced times. Trying to express emotions through words on a piece of paper, and the sense of anticipation while reading them, was an irreplaceable feeling. To bring back the culture of writing letters, several college students have come together from all over India.
They are working under the name ‘Taameer’ and introduce themselves as a community of artivists. The young group has many talented singers, musicians, painters, dancers, writers, poets and even college professors. With five successful events in Delhi, the group is thriving across various platforms.
In an attempt to keep alive the tradition of writing letters and receiving them through post, Taameer came up with the idea of taking letter requests from people across the country. The idea behind this was to send hand-written letters to strangers and was titled as Paigaam@Taameer.
“I owe Taameer for believing in this cause and reviving an old tradition which is more personal than the emails and texts we exchange today,” said Puspangana Singh, a writer.
Paigaam@Taameer was a huge success and received more than 300 requests. However, due to shortage of time and manpower, the team had to shortlist 300 entries. The members wrote letters to strangers to make them smile. The topics ranged from motivational thoughts to addressing personal problems.
“I don’t remember the last time when something made me so happy. Although I was reading the letter, it felt like I was having a conversation and it was the best conversation I ever had with someone,” said Shams Altamash, a resident of Rajasthan.
The team worked non-stop from December 12 to 17. They wrote hand-written letters on beautiful sheets which were packed in brown envelopes. After numerous discussions, agreements and disagreements, a dreamcatcher was chosen to be displayed on the top right corner and the logo of Taameer on the bottom left.
“We wished the dreamcatcher could drain out all negativity and leave words of love and happiness on papers. It was chosen to symbolise good dreams and times. The design was subtle and had a retro feel to it,” said Rubhen D’sa, founder, Taameer.
The family members of a few writers initially disapproved of the long-hours they were putting in for the project. “My mother was annoyed because she thought I was wasting too much time on this. But she was secretly proud when I explained the whole concept to her, because I heard her bragging about it to her friend on the phone, when she thought I wasn’t listening,” said Sharanya Sharma, who read over 100 letters, edited over 50, and wrote 22 by hand, out of which nine were her own compositions.
The journey
Taameer was founded on July 21, 2016 by Rubhen D’sa, a nineteen-year-old from New Delhi. He is currently pursuing his graduation at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce.
After visiting several poetry slam events and art meets, Rubhen found that all of them revolved around the same cultivated ideas of glamour, glitz and commercialisation. These events, according to Rubhen, lacked what now is imbibed in the core of Taameer — a vision to transform the society through art.
As part of Taameer, students have organised art events and meets at Friendicoes — a popular dog-animal shelter, an old age home in Karkardooma, a fun event for more than fifty underprivileged students near Tihar Jail and an awareness-cum-cleanliness drive on Diwali, in addition to Paigaam@Taameer. The artivists wish to grow as a family and reach out to like-minded artists across the country.
