Kolkata, Dec. 13: Bengalis' love for sending invitation cards to friends and relatives on almost every other occasion is today a common knowledge in West Bengal. A function is considered incomplete till at least 100 guests attend it.

The popular custom here is to invite friends and relatives by sending them printed invitation cards. Be it the birth of a child, the rice ceremony, a birthday, a marriage or someone's last rites, invitation cards are required.

In Kolkata, Mahatma Gandhi Road, popularly called College Street, is known for its invitation card shops. Just after a marriage is fixed, a family visits these shops to select an invitation profile reflecting one's personal taste.

Bulbul Mukherjee, whose daughter will get married in January, recently visited College Street in search of an artistic card .

She said: "We, Bengalis, need cards for all occasions starting from birth to death. Since childhood, we know College Street is the place where we get cards. "

At the College Street, there are over 100 shops selling invitation cards for all occasions. Here, it is a flourishing trade offering employment to over 2,500 people.

This invitation card business goes back to more than 50 years. When a handful of people of the area started making and selling some handmade cards, mainly for the wedding occasion. There were just four to five shops selling cards here.

Meanwhile, with the passage of time, the preference for wedding cards has undergone a sea change.

Old timers say that the introduction of computers has revolutionised the business all together.

Prabhat Saha, who has spent his last 20 years into the card trade, says: "Everything has changed in the last ten years with computers. Perfection is the key word now – be it designing or printing. The cost has also come down considerably due to high production. Press printing has actually gone to oblivion. "

Interestingly, patterns of invitation cards have seen an evolution with changing pattern of job market in Kolkata.

The wedding card business is booming with people spending more money for fashionable cards.

There was a time when for a middle to upper middle class family, rupees three to five would be spent for each wedding card. That amount has risen up to rupees 20 to 50 per card today.

Today's youth, who work mainly in the IT and service sector, opt for slick modern cards. Earlier, a Bengali wedding card included the picture of a bride in a palanquin or a butterfly or a Kalash.

Today, modern motifs are in vogue, including Tagore's painted woman face or Jamini Ray paintings or their own designs.

Biswa Ranjan Kumar, whose son works for a multinational company, said: "They have so many specifications because of their job-profile. In my son's wedding card we have as many as three pages. One for invitation in Bengali, the other for English as his

friends are mostly non-Bengali and the last page is meant to guide for a route map up to venue. The texture of paper has also changed. Now customers prefer handmade papers which are brought from Assam. "

Rabi Ghosh, whose family is into card business for past three decades, says: "We can guess the taste, profession and religion of a person from the card he or she selects. "

Rabi adds: "A professional Bengali always looks for slick modern card while non-Bengali Hindus always insist for a motif of the Lord Ganesha on the card whereas the business class prefers heavily designed cards. "

Interestingly, colours for wedding cards vary according to one's religious faith.

Hindus prefer red cards while Muslims opt for green with picture of mosque and half moon. On most of the Muslim cards, their favourite number "786" is written in the middle, as they consider this as their 'lucky number'. Whereas the Christian cards are always in white or light pink with pictures of church marriage and flowers on them. (ANI)