Blame it on the free e-greeting cards available online that have given people an easier mode of sending greetings across with just a few clicks or the growing dependence on messaging. Also the facts of not spending money and time are factors for the sales of cards drying up.

Many shops, stalls and stores that used to sell greeting cards now are either not keeping cards or do not import in big numbers. Arab News talked to the manager of local bookstore Maktaba Al-Afnan, which used to be a favorite spot for greeting cards among people of the subcontinent, especially during Eid.

“Internet and SMS have eaten into this market. People call, text or send an e-card but won’t buy real greeting cards. Nowadays it is just five percent of what it used to be 10 years ago. We used to import from Pakistan in large quantities but now we don’t,” said Alamgir Hussain.

Despite easy to access and free e-greeting cards, there are many who prefer to send their greetings through the “real” cards to their near and dear ones for the sole purpose of keeping the interaction real rather than the virtual. “I have never sent an e-card in my life and I never will. I don’t see the point. What a greeting card actually means is that you took a few moments out of your schedule to think of that person in your life. Hence the process, for me at least, involves driving to a shop to choose an appropriate cute, classic, funny, naughty or sincere card for that person.

“Writing my message on it neatly and in the most personal style possible adds to the process. Then, I drive to the post office, paste a stamp and post it by snail mail. Virtual hugs and kisses cannot replace real ones. I post loads of cards to my relatives in Pakistan and UK,” says Rehman Akhtar, a renowned comedian.

Fadwa Jiffry a teen says, “It depends on the kind of relationships I have with the person. For my close relative living abroad I send real cards. For me sending cards means making people happy and bringing a smile to the face of a person close to me. It brings happiness to me too to see them happy. However, I send e-cards to my friends. But, I must agree the e-cards can’t take the place of real ones. Real ones at least lessen the pain of absence.”

However, e-card senders have their own reasons. “When there are free and quick cards available on the Internet why should I rely on snail-mailing a greeting card? The postal system here in the Kingdom doesn’t work properly. It all depends on your strength of relation with the person. E-card or real card that doesn’t matter then. Something that matters is you remembered them on the happy occasion,” says Amirah Haider, a teen.