‘Thank you for all that you do,’ reads a postcard. ‘Thank you for saving our country and keeping it safe,’ says another. There were scores of such messages on postcards all ready to be shipped to the armed forces across the country.
This is part of the ‘Salute a Soldier’ campaign organised jointly by India Post and Postcrossing Society of India at the General Post Office on Saturday. Col. Akhil Kumar from Postcrossing Society of India said the postcards would be delivered to 1,000 Army units across the country. “We wanted to get the community involved in the initiative. The same initiative will be taken to Belagavi on Monday,” he said, adding that 1,000 postcards had been printed.
“We got a good response. Lots of families, along with young children, wrote messages for the armed forces. We kept crayons handy for children to draw on the postcards,” he said.
Sharan Bojaraj, a techie who participated in the campaign, said: “This initiative is going to make the soldiers very happy... they are getting so many letters of love, support and admiration.” “This is a great initiative. It helps citizens acknowledge and appreciate our soldiers and their sacrifices,” said Anita Nandakumar, a private company employee.
Col. Kumar said that Postcrossing Society is cataloguing postcards to create a postcard library. “This to expose Indian heritage and culture to the world. We are taking the library to schools to inculcate the habit of letter writing among schoolchildren.” In October, the society is planning a similar event - Letters to Mahatma - to propagate the Gandhian philosophy.
