On the last weekend of every month, Sowbharanika Lakshmipathy’s dining table disappears beneath piles of paper. Handwritten letters wait to be folded, stickers are trimmed into neat sheets, bookmarks are stacked beside colouring pages, and rolls of washi tape lie scattered between envelopes waiting to be sealed.Preparing each month’s batch of mail is a process that unfolds over nearly two weeks. “I want every envelope to feel like it was put together for one person, not produced in bulk,” says the Coimbatore-based founder of snail mail club Tamarai Tales. “By the time I’m done, it feels like I’m sending little pieces of myself.”
A curation from snail mail club Tamarai Tales
Much of what goes into each package is written or designed by the 27-year-old IT professional. The rest is carefully curated by her from stationery makers. Each month revolves around a single idea. One package asks subscribers whether they feel they are falling behind in life. Another explores what it means to start over. Others centre on loneliness, friendship, self-worth and well-being.Before sealing the last envelope, Lakshmipathy props up her phone against her ceramic coffee cup and records the process. Time-lapse videos of handwritten notes and finished envelopes have become a familiar feature on her Instagram page, where many of her subscribers first discovered the club. It is an irony she readily acknowledges. “Social media helps people find me,” she says. “But what I’m really hoping to give them is a reason to spend a little less time on it.”
