When was the last time you wrote on a nice, colourful postcard and mailed it to somebody? “Sadly, we all are stuck to our keyboards and have largely abandoned writing,” rues Nicholas Francis, the city’s sought after human resource mentor and a self-published author. While looking for souvenirs during a visit to Mamallapuram last year, he bought some postcards with old black-and-white photos of the historic site. It made him wonder why Madurai lacked similar photos. “Occasionally, we come across a few old prints of Pudhumandapam and other landmarks but they are not sharp visual images,” he feels. Back home, the photographer in him took him to Madurai’s streets at odd hours with his Canon1300 to observe and capture the city from his perspective. “I began clicking hundreds of photos, starting with Jallikattu last year and planned a coffee table book on the multiple facets of our ancient city that is so rich in culture and heritage,” he says. Then, a few weeks ago, a visit to Aritapatti, a heritage site on the Madurai-Trichy highway made him change his plans. “Picture postcards are tangible accounts of people’s travels and can be a meaningful business of city branding,” he says. So, over the last few days, Nicholas has been rummaging through his huge collection of photos. He finally selected 30 best frames which he plans to release as a set this month end. He has got them printed in two sizes, one, the regular 4x6 inches, and the other in a slightly larger format of 8x6 inches. He plans to sell them as a set for ?150. “I am calling it Magnificent Madurai Memorabilia. People can frame them or post them,” he says, “serving the twin purpose as souvenirs and reviving the writing habit.” With brilliant lighting and angles, Nicholas has brought to life some of Madurai’s common hotspots and the less explored gems. They will feature an aerial view of the city at night, the bustling flower market during Pongal, Jallikattu, the famous arches and pillars of the Thirumalai Naicker Mahal, stone carvings at Alagar Koil, the Meenakshi Temple’s entrance, the paddy fields around Madurai and more. The postcards will evoke a smile in all those who pride on the city. “The postcards won’t take up much space anywhere, either in your bags or on your walls,” says Nicholas, “and yet, allow you to share special moments and random thoughts from your visit to Madurai.” After all, when it comes to branding, image is everything. And Nicholas is not abandoning his original plan either. “The coffee table book will be out in December,” he promises. He has already published a desktop calendar in the beginning of the year that contain 12 shots of the city and is titled Marvellous Madurai.

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