India, Aug. 3 -- In the sweltering Delhi summer of 1979, eighteen-year-old Sunita Gaur carefully placed her college application documents into manila envelopes, each one destined for a different institution that might shape her future. The ritual was meticulous and nerve-wracking - photocopies of certificates and meticulously filled forms. Sealed, they would all be dispatched through a mail service that that only truly important correspondence demanded: Registered post.

"It was the only way to be certain they would reach safely and be handed to the right person," recalls Gaur, now 64, her voice carrying the weight of decades. "We would also receive an acknowledgement that the recipient has received the communication."

Those envelopes, s...