Postcards are making a comeback, with a growing number of young people using these to stay connected with friends and fellow enthusiasts across the world.The revival has been helped by online platforms like Postcrossing that facilitate the exchange of postcards among people from different countries. The project allows users to send postcards and receive them from randomly selected people around the world.The trend has brought cheer to stamp collectors, who say it has breathed new life into the hobby while also reviving the art of letter writing, which declined with the advent of mobile phones and the internet and their promise of instant communication.Under the Postcrossing exchange programme, a participant who sends 10 postcards can receive an equal number from other users.Neeraj Jain, a stamp collector for more than 30 years, advises beginners to drop their postcards at the General Post Office (GPO), where letter boxes are still in use. In other parts of the city, it is rare to find a letter box still standing amid the heavy traffic. Those that have survived the rapid pace of commercialisation are also not cleared regularly, he said.For sending a postcard abroad, one needs to affix a Rs 15 stamp and drop it into the nearest letter box. However, Jain advises newcomers to check the required postage with post office officials, as rates can change over time. He said another way to stay informed is to regularly follow India Post-related updates on its website.For 22-year-old Parth, who writes and collects postcards, the hobby has also brought a sense of nostalgia to his family.“My parents were happy to see me writing postcards as they saw them back on their reading tables after decades. They felt nostalgic,” he said.Parth said many philatelists have joined Postcrossing and use the platform regularly. In India, however, he said, its use remains limited, not because of a lack of awareness but because of the quality of postal services.His communication with friends in peninsular India, he said, revealed a sharp divide in postal service quality between northern and southern India. According to him, most active postcard users in the country are from the southern peninsula, where service quality is better and the coastal location may also play a role.“In North India, postcards are sent to foreign countries, but receiving them back is not guaranteed, so nobody wants to waste their money on something with no return,” he said.Explaining how Postcrossing works, Parth said: “It is a platform where you can send postcards to other fellow postcrossers in other parts of the world, and you will also receive postcards randomly from any part of the world.”To pursue the hobby, Parth opened an account at the local GPO with Rs 200 and deposited an additional Rs 1,500 to obtain other items such as first-day covers and brochures. He said the service was helpful because he soon began receiving stamps at his doorstep, allowing him to build his collection while also learning about the occasions behind each issue.“Every stamp that is minted ignites a sense of curiosity in me to learn more about the personality or the event associated with it. This is the importance of having a hobby: you keep learning more about it day by day,” said Parth.His journey into philately began in earnest in 2025, but Parth believes there is no limit to how far he can take the hobby.“I can explore stamps from 1947 to 2024 or even pre-Independence issues. After completing these phases, I can move beyond India and learn about and collect foreign stamps, as many people do. This has now become a lifelong journey for me, and I am very excited to learn more about stamps,” said Parth.