A person who has never put a pen to paper to write a letter to a loved one has missed out on one of the most beautiful experiences in life. And almost everyone in this generation seems to be missing out on this experience.
The generation before this one may have had a chance to write a few letters to their parents, their wives or husbands, their children or to people whom they fell in love with. Film songs about writing love letters are many. “Phool tumhe bheja hai khat mein” (from Saraswati Chandra), “Yeh mera prem patra padhkar ke tum naaraaz na hona” (from Sangam) , “likhe jo khat tujhe, who teri yaad mein hazaaron rang ke nazaare ban gaye” (from Kanyadaan), “Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se tujhko likhi roz paati” (from Prem Pujaari) — the list is long.
However, a relatively recent film —Sirf Tum — made in the time of emails and mobile phones, seemed rather out of place as its theme revolved around writing letters. Even official communication these days is through the internet . It saves time and energy and also, it never gets lost on the way as many letters used to. There have been cases when letters written to a person have been received decades later by his grandchildren! Such were the vagaries of the postal system! People used to wait for days to get letters from their parents , children, other relatives and of course, their boy friends or girl friends.And when, at last, the friendly neighbourhood post man came either walking or on a bicycle, he seemed like an angel to the receiver of the letter. And in the case of a love letter, he seemed no less than Cupid himself!
Colourful and flowery letter writing pads and matching envelopes used to be a great attraction in the 1970s and 1980s. They were something quite new and a very welcome change from the boring yellow-brown post cards and blue inland letters. They came packed in lovely boxes and were often chosen by us as a birthday gift for a friend. I still have some lying in my old treasure box which also has photograph albums, letters written by friends and parents, a few music cassettes, diaries and several small things that I have kept for memories’ sake.
When one sees the ink flow and form words on paper, there is a strange satisfaction that one derives which can never be matched while typing on our computer or mobile phone screens. Your handwriting could actually tell the person whether you had written the letter in a hurry or specially sat down, with a cup of tea, to write a letter with complete concentration and care. Coloured inks were used to make the letters look even more beautiful. There were some code words which cousins or friends often used in letters so that if , by chance, the letter arrived in a half open state and was glanced at by an elder, he or she would have a tough time decoding it!
Sometimes I really miss getting letters. The postman has lost his importance and brings only a few bills or magazines. The excitement of receiving a special letter with you hands can never, never be replaced by the feeling when you open an email. But it is a fact that I too do not write letters any more. So we see that times and technology have brought about some changes which will be difficult to reverse.
If I had written this column in those days, I would have done so in the best writing possible, on fine paper and posted it to the editor in a smart envelope. So much care and attention went into ensuring that the receiver got a good impression of the sender through the way the letter was worded and also how it was placed neatly into the envelope. Shabby letters did not say much for you.
Will our email communications ever be able to give us the happiness, in future, which we get by taking out our bunch of old letters, touching them and going through themIJ It is just not possible.
With each letter we have some memory linked. Some of them still have a whiff of a loved one’s perfume. Some tell us of how we used to scribble letters to each other as children while others carry blessings of our elders. Can we not revive this dying (or is it dead) art of letter writing IJ