At a glance you can tell Ragini Dhingra is an artist. Dressed comfortably in a loose cotton skirt and a top, her hair held up in a bun with a paint brush and neck adorned with a statement handmade clay necklace made by her mother, she’s distractedly drawn to a pack of dogs playfully making a mess of bubble wrap on the streets in Benaulim.
In the same manner, Ragini would observe with fascination Goa’s local fisherwomen and farmers from her house in Majorda. She decided to create something very unique featuring them. She collected all her thoughts and ideas of Goa and complied them into series of hand-drawn postcards called Snail Mail.
How do you take a little Goa with you? It is then that I started translating these drawings, which were anyway very Goa-inspired, into postcards.Ragini Dhingra, Artist
“Goa is a tourism state and when people come here, there are limited things (souvenirs) you see them buying. Some of them are ‘I love Goa’ T-shirts and those shell keychains. What is a little something someone can take (with them)? How do you take a little Goa with you? It is then that I started translating these drawings, which were anyway very Goa-inspired, into postcards,” says Ragini, as she shows a variety of her postcards.
Living in a world where social media rules all forms of communication, a small gesture like a postcard can mean a lot. Ragini is focused and determined to bring the art of postcard writing back in fashion.
“People can write postcards with the address. I had a customised letterbox made where people can drop their postcards. Once a week, I will take those postcards and post them at the post office,” she says.
It is the smallest thing someone can take or send home as a memory. And it’s lightweight so there is no stress of extra luggage – or you can just post it. The process has been very personal for Ragini who always had a love for postcards and writing letters as a child.
She adds, “If you write a postcard to someone, it means you have thought of that person for five minutes, especially when you were travelling.” It's also a memorable thought for someone who receives it.
You can find these Goa-themed postcards at many venues in Goa: Green Essentials in Succoro in North Goa and Bakery Pausenbrot in Benaulim.
“I had a very good response to all my postcards so I continued to do it. That is when this idea of putting these points across Goa came. I'm still working on it. At these points, I have a selection of assorted postcards along with stamps which will be provided and a little letter box where people can post it,” says Ragini. These postcards with a stamp cost Rs 100.
The Goa-themed postcards have monsoon, slugs and snails, papaya, fisherwomen, farmers, Goan window panes, fish and much more.
Ragini has also launched her own homegrown brand of mulmul scarfs made with Goan themes like cashews and windowpanes, which she created at her studio Paddyfield – following the Goa theme. Ragini will be featuring her postcards at the Brezelfest on November 7, in South Goa.