It seems like ages since we last wrote or received a hand-written letter. In this digital age it is so easy to stay connected with people – like a pervasive genie unleashed with digital revolution, we’ve now got friends on FB, send emails to bosses & co-workers and post short ‘stay-well’ messages to elderly parents/relatives and tweet at celebrities and politicians.
Yet ask anyone past middle-age and there’s warm nostalgia that surrounds letters.Many of us preserve old ones we can lay hands on, like mementos ! In these we try to keep alive the personal touch of the writer. Till the 1980’s parents would get worried if you didn’t send them a postcard (or made STD calls) every other week ! Today the humble ‘letter’ in own handwriting as form of communication is slowly becoming extinct, barring official letters that need be sent by post. Why write, rather chat for hours on WhatsApp !
Looking back, most of us won’t recall the first letter we wrote. I suspect it would’ve been in school as an English lesson where basics of letter-writing were taught and class tests were given to elicit model answers. Simple as it sounded, teachers would point out many errors in our drafts. A good letter had to be clear, organized in paras with apt words that were to the point. It was a writing skill that had to be perfected through constant practice.
As children, conveying respect or affection to elders & relatives on festivals by penning letters to them, was a ritual followed meticulously. Also, it was imperative we stayed in touch with each other when out of town and letters were means to convey information, one’s experiences and thoughts. We still recall our parent’s vivid hand-written accounts of travels across Scotland, Norway and exotic destinations, that seemed as if they were speaking to us.
Confiding innermost thoughts via letters to dear friends was much in vogue then, specially where matters of the heart and heartbreaks were concerned. In poignant times too, letters brought solace. When my close friend’s father died we were in school itself and I penned a heartfelt note on his loss which moved my Dad to tears. Historically, writing came naturally to our family !
Often help of those who had greater fluency in writing were enlisted to draft special letters. I once helped a close friend in composing his first love-note to his fiancé which met with much appreciation. Later she discovered that he’d used a shadow writer but laughed it off for his overall good intentions.
Busy schedules, time pressures often prevent us from writing and simply calling and chatting. Yet, social letters can be fun, therapeutic, and can have a much deeper meaning to the recipient than a boring old email. So what if it takes a little bit longer than a digital message ? It is so exciting to receive a letter in reply that reciprocates our feelings and isn’t a bill or a reminder !
Working on Living 