Penning Some Thoughts…

a couple of days back, a friend of mine asked me for my thoughts on letter writing – snail mail, as we call it now. while emailing her my responses (i know – ironies of life), i was reminded of the letters i had written and received – it all feels so long ago. email, facebook and mobile phones have become the de rigeur modes of communication, so much so that the only notes i write to other people are little post-its to be stuck on the fridge, table or laptop screens.

long, hand-written letters have a charm of their own – i am reminded of the carpenter’s song “please mr.postman” even as i type this! 🙂 opening up the envelope and smoothing the sheets, eagerly waiting to find out just what the other person had to say is part joy in itself. of course, not everyone has good penmanship, but the very fact that they could fill an A4 sheet (twice over, if they wrote in the back as well) made it clear that they had something to say, that is worth a read.

my grandmother was one of the most meticulous letter-writers in the family. she had a fantastic memory when it came to birthdays and families – of her children, grand children, her sibling and her children, my grandfather’s siblings and their children, and so on. and some days before the occassion, she would take out a postcard or blue inland letter from her stock, and write a long letter that began by wishing the person in question, then giving an update on how things were on her end, asking about life on the other end, and rounding off with wishes and blessings. her handwriting was extremely small and she had the habit of writing her lines very close to each other to maximise space, so it made it a bit hard to understand some words. and yet, just the sight of her letter would fill us with happiness, and we could hardly wait to open and read it. 🙂

another person who wrote letters on a regular basis was my dad. a marine engineer, he was often away for months together, and could only keep in touch through the phone (when he reached a port) or letters. his letters would reach us a few weeks after being posted, as we could make out from the date. they were enclosed in envelopes with red and blue edges, with the words “By Air Mail – Par Avion” printed in a corner, each one bearing stamps from different corners of the world. a budding philatelist might have considered these letters a veritable treasure, but rather unfortunately, i didn’t have stamp-collecting tendencies. the sheets were light, with thin lines and were made specifically for writing letters. my dad’s handwriting was – is – beautifully rounded and spaced out, and his letters looked like they had been printed. we would read about the places he had visited, the things he had seen, and how he wished we were there with him to see it too. somehow, reading those words made the feelings come alive – almost as if he was right there talking to us. sometimes, he would enclose photos as well. receiving these letters was like getting a christmas stocking – you never knew what surprises lay within! 🙂

the other letters i have received have been from friends, often tucked inside birthday or diwali cards. these were shorter, and more like notes than letters per se, but they still had their own charm. the creative types would often add stickers or draw little patterns on the margins, making it cheery and personal. i would collect and keep these cards and letters as mementos, but at some point – probably during a routine spring cleaning exercise – many were lost.

then along came the email. at first, it seemed like the answer to all our communication woes – letters would no longer get lost, we would never have to struggle to read bad handwriting (mine included), and with the colourful fonts and templates, writing an interesting letter seemed a cinch. except that the habit of writing slowly dwindled away. dashing off a “how r u? i m gd. ttyl!” was easier than typing out a full-length account. the other thing that made writing less and less prominent was the fact that we could always catch up on the phone.

i am not one to deride the marvels of technology – but now that i think about it, they have obliterated a culture that thrived on the beauty of words. and just the way i swear by two thick books in my bag as opposed to an iPad with 200 e-books, i would say that the joy of receiving a letter is unmatched by short-lived thrill of a new email in the inbox. and it’s not just me – do you see anyone writing songs about receiving an email?