Minal Bhatia was a teenager when she was first introduced to the concept of writing letters, which she used to write to exchange students, who were known to her. In the 80s, Bhatia had a lot of pen pals and she would send letters to people all over the world. However, it fizzled off.

Bhatia, inspired by Instagram's MinizPostcards, joined Postcrossing to connect with pen pals globally, exchanging letters and postcards. She regularly sends letters to people from all over the world with customized craft. Over time, she has also installed a post box near her homestay in Lonavala, and encourages children to send letters.

Elsewhere in the city, Srushti Bhakare has always known about the concept of pen pals, but it took the Covid-19 pandemic to push her towards exploring the medium. Interestingly, she did not become pen pals with her friends through the traditional method of writing letters, but through an application called ‘Slowly’, which lets you meet pen pals from your smartphone.

Currently, Bhakare is still connected to two of these friends, Dino and Lulla, who go by their pen names on the application, and hail from different countries in Asia. Over time, the Mumbaikar admits that writing letters got tiring, so they decided to resort to something quicker and easier, and that’s why they resorted to Instagram.

Bhakare's elder sister Shraddha Bhakare, joined the application two years prior in 2018 and connected with her pen pals, who messaged her because of their shared interests. While she isn't connected to them now, she hopes to reconnect with them soon.