Baba Umar
RISING KASHMIR
SRINGAR, DEC. 15:
Come eid, and the time for internet aficionados of the valley to swap greeting cards on internet kicks off. The trend isn’t new; however, trading electronic cards (e-cards) is gaining a rapid pace as the festival draws near.
“I’m done with sheep buying. Now it’s the time to log in,” says Izhar Ahmed, an internet freak and a businessman, who is all set to visit a net café.
Ask him why he chose e-card as a substitute of customary paper card to reach his relatives and friends; the answer comes in a shrewd businessmen way.
Purchasing a conventional greeting card, he says, “would cost me around 40 to 50 bucks.” “Plus the charges and poor postal service involved in sending it,” he puts in.
E-cards come in sundry varieties. And as the process of electronic mailing is instant, safe and hassle free, young people of the Kashmir are finding it quite handy to get their distant friends and relatives greeted on the celebration.
“Trading e-cards is a real fun, we do it in a click, that too with a confirmation message that our card has been delivered to the recipient,” Izhar’s friend, Amir, chips in.
About the choice available in the market, he says, “We don’t need to stalk through shops where we are offered cards with inadequate schema.”
The GenY of Kashmir seems to believe in versatility of things and e-cards have this edge over stereotypical greeting cards. These cards involve “custom imprinting” facility and also come in different formats: videos, audios and html tags by some sites like myspace.com gives your mail a new look.
“I prefer to mail e-cards on eid,” says Tasim Zahid, a media student of the Kashmir University and a hard net-surfer. “These cards are chicly tailored for users, we can easily personalise them.” “Besides appearing flashy and sprinkling on the screens,” Zahid says, “e-cards are free from the hackneyed notes and messages that are etched on the ordinary greeting cards.”
Says Shafia Gulzar: “To me ‘Archies’ and ‘Expressions’ are things of bygone eon. In the age of bloggers and orkutians, who would bother to visit card galleries followed by lengthy postal work. We do it online.”
And for the Kashimiris who are working outside the state and can’t make it to home this eid, e-cards are getting the distances look small and shorter.
“I can’t be home this eid, so I have decided to drop an e-card for my family and friends,” Tamim Ahmad, who is studying MBA in a Pune College, says in an email interview. “I’ll greet them the electronic way.”
“This is the best possible alternative to wish my family and pals,” says Farooq Ahmed, who hails from Sopur and presently works as Content Editor in Bangloru for Yahoo.com. “And because we're such a large family I find it timesaving and cheaper to bulk send e-cards,” says the techie.
Farooq’s father, Abdul Rashid Khan, who runs a textile shop in Sopore, is also expecting an electronic felicitation from his son’s side on this eid.
“He (Farooq) had mailed an e-card last eid too and this eid the whole family is hopeful to have again from him,” Khan says.
With the new age group bent on getting things to be solved within no time, electronic mailing has given a back seat to accustomed paper cards in Kashmir.
Traders say along with mobile phone sms’, the facility of devising eid cards on computers and swapping them via internet has led people avoid buying pricey paper cards.
Says Ajaz: “We were doing a good business a year ago, now e-cards are chipping in as a replacement of traditional eid greeting cards.” Ajaz who runs a whole sale gift shop in Gojwara says the business next year too might go trailing.
“Shall we launch a net café?” was the Ajaz’s poser to his brother, who was sitting just next to him.
RISING KASHMIR
SRINGAR, DEC. 15:
Come eid, and the time for internet aficionados of the valley to swap greeting cards on internet kicks off. The trend isn’t new; however, trading electronic cards (e-cards) is gaining a rapid pace as the festival draws near.
“I’m done with sheep buying. Now it’s the time to log in,” says Izhar Ahmed, an internet freak and a businessman, who is all set to visit a net café.
Ask him why he chose e-card as a substitute of customary paper card to reach his relatives and friends; the answer comes in a shrewd businessmen way.
Purchasing a conventional greeting card, he says, “would cost me around 40 to 50 bucks.” “Plus the charges and poor postal service involved in sending it,” he puts in.
E-cards come in sundry varieties. And as the process of electronic mailing is instant, safe and hassle free, young people of the Kashmir are finding it quite handy to get their distant friends and relatives greeted on the celebration.
“Trading e-cards is a real fun, we do it in a click, that too with a confirmation message that our card has been delivered to the recipient,” Izhar’s friend, Amir, chips in.
About the choice available in the market, he says, “We don’t need to stalk through shops where we are offered cards with inadequate schema.”
The GenY of Kashmir seems to believe in versatility of things and e-cards have this edge over stereotypical greeting cards. These cards involve “custom imprinting” facility and also come in different formats: videos, audios and html tags by some sites like myspace.com gives your mail a new look.
“I prefer to mail e-cards on eid,” says Tasim Zahid, a media student of the Kashmir University and a hard net-surfer. “These cards are chicly tailored for users, we can easily personalise them.” “Besides appearing flashy and sprinkling on the screens,” Zahid says, “e-cards are free from the hackneyed notes and messages that are etched on the ordinary greeting cards.”
Says Shafia Gulzar: “To me ‘Archies’ and ‘Expressions’ are things of bygone eon. In the age of bloggers and orkutians, who would bother to visit card galleries followed by lengthy postal work. We do it online.”
And for the Kashimiris who are working outside the state and can’t make it to home this eid, e-cards are getting the distances look small and shorter.
“I can’t be home this eid, so I have decided to drop an e-card for my family and friends,” Tamim Ahmad, who is studying MBA in a Pune College, says in an email interview. “I’ll greet them the electronic way.”
“This is the best possible alternative to wish my family and pals,” says Farooq Ahmed, who hails from Sopur and presently works as Content Editor in Bangloru for Yahoo.com. “And because we're such a large family I find it timesaving and cheaper to bulk send e-cards,” says the techie.
Farooq’s father, Abdul Rashid Khan, who runs a textile shop in Sopore, is also expecting an electronic felicitation from his son’s side on this eid.
“He (Farooq) had mailed an e-card last eid too and this eid the whole family is hopeful to have again from him,” Khan says.
With the new age group bent on getting things to be solved within no time, electronic mailing has given a back seat to accustomed paper cards in Kashmir.
Traders say along with mobile phone sms’, the facility of devising eid cards on computers and swapping them via internet has led people avoid buying pricey paper cards.
Says Ajaz: “We were doing a good business a year ago, now e-cards are chipping in as a replacement of traditional eid greeting cards.” Ajaz who runs a whole sale gift shop in Gojwara says the business next year too might go trailing.
“Shall we launch a net café?” was the Ajaz’s poser to his brother, who was sitting just next to him.
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