The incessant "tring, Tring" of the cycle bells remind me of just one thing..."The Postman".
When I set foot into my 4th standard, my father insisted that I should begin writing letters That was one sure way of learning English with a bonus of keeping in touch with relatives and friends. After a long discussion with my brothers and my Mom, I decided to write my first letter to my uncle. Now, this man is an expert in English language and his writings hogged the limelight in almost all the National Newspapers. I must admit that I needed a dictionary to help me when I attempted to read any of his writings! One of the best things about him was that he always responded to the letters he received, never complained about lack of time even once! Remember, those were the days the pen and paper ruled, and the faithful PC was still in the womb!
The yellow post card was purchased from the post office nearby for a princely price of 25 paise and a letter drafted. My first letter had approximately 12 complete sentences, that was first written in my rough note book and then transcribed into the post card, taking extra care of my handwriting. That was necessary since these cards could not be hidden with an envelope. Then I walked over to the post office and proudly posted my letter. I began waiting for the response from that day itself!!
After a fortnight of restless waiting, the postman finally brought home my letter! It gave me great pride to see a letter addressed to me, more so the fact that the postman called out my name before handing the letter over to me, just filled me with great excitement. The contents of the letter were no less exciting..!! With my first attempt being so successful, I launched a big time writing spree.. I wrote to my cousins, friends, made a few pen pals, and I just kept writing... and writing. Most of my letters were responded to and that made the postman's visit to my home very frequent. Taking cue from my uncle, I began writing about social awareness in the erstwhile Indian Express.. and can you believe it, I even received emails from the public encouraging me to go on, and an occasional letter from the Government official with an update on the action taken for any complaint that was posted by me.
The habit still continued when I graduated from School and entered college. Even though the PC had been invented by then and emails were being remotely used, I still stuck to my pen and paper. The sheer pleasure of putting my words in paper and the joy of having the postman deliver hand written letters cannot be described in words!
Nowadays, the pen and paper has been replaced by the keyboard and monitor and the postman has been replaced by email! Although it is a sure and quick way of delivering the message, it somehow lacks the personal touch that I long for. This is one thing that my daughter should not miss.. I will encourage her to write letters with the pen and paper... the keyboard and monitor can wait a while!!
Hmm.. Do I hear another "tring, tring"?.. Well.. thats just my son back from his daily cycling routine... so much for having expected the postman!!
5 comments:
A very readable post that took my memories back to those good old days. As you rightly say the thrill of getting a letter addressed in our name is special indeed.
I don't rue the changeover to email as much of loss of the art of writing a letter. Even in emails one definitely can retain the poise and rhythm, tenor and mood, the colour and senstivity that used to be associated with the snail mails of the past.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I couldn't get to your blog since there was a pile of things to clear following my trip.
Hi Vidhya
A nice post again.
But I don't completely agree with pradeep. Somehow, emails sound asceptic, devoid of human emotions associated with handwritten letters. One's handwriting in such letters conveys more than what the contents do.
Imagine Panditji writing Discovery of India in emails or his letters to Indra Priyadarshini!
Go right ahead and let's have great posts from you.
Shankar
Pradeep - Thanks for the comments. I really like your style of writing. I enjoyed reading many of your posts. wil continue to do so. Thanks again.
Shankar.. Hey, Welcome back.. Its refreshing to see your comments on my blog after such a long time!
Vidya,
I just chanced upon your blog and felt happy that I did.
You echo my thoughts...I too do not want my sons to miss the thrills of letter writing and the excitement of opening the personally addressed handwritten letters!
will keep visiting!
Feeling nostalgic again...but change is inevitable..and so are our habits..
writing letters ..i really donno when i wrote last as it was never required from me..but i do remember the waiting for results..when postman wud arrive with our future in his hands..
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