Dear Reader,

Welcome to the Pink Daak! My name is Padma and I am so excited to be sharing wacky letters that I find with people who are equally wacky, unique, and fascinating. I find old letters to be the best way to capture history and the people who make it. I love that these letters make me think of all the people before me – people who have felt rage, love, grief, affection, ambition, absurdity, disillusionment, doubt, frustration, terror, envy, dread, existentialism, lust – the way I do. I love that I may learn about a feeling I have never felt, through these people.

The Pink Daak is my attempt to share these letters with you, the way they deserve to be shared – as beautifully crafted objects that arrive in your mailbox.

Every month, I spend hours searching archives, libraries, memoirs, and collections for correspondence that is unusual, moving, or unexpectedly relevant today. Every edition is carefully researched, written, designed, and packed by me in Jaipur. I hope these letters find a place on your bookshelf and that, every now and then, they make the past feel a little less distant.