Letters from the past

Letters…they open up a world long-gone; they take you back to a time and place you once lived in. They reveal the person you once were; and who even you may have long-forgotten.

I was quite an avid letter-writer. Having been a fauji kid, I moved town every 2-3 years; which meant making new friends, and leaving old ones behind. But I fervently wrote letters to my friends, and for many years, kept in touch with them. Until the internet came along and the art & science of letter-writing fell out of the scope of my life.

Recently, while chatting with Kasturi, my childhood friend, who is now in Cochin, she opened one of the boxes lying close by and took out a bunch of letters—letters I had written to her; first from Calcutta and then from Trichy. We were the ‘bestest’ of friends in school and hence my letters to her spoke about everything under the sun; from studies, movies, parents, new and old friends, gossips, and of course, boys! From the hard time I was having with cramming for board exams to how the dance parties were fun/boring depending on the amount of attention I could garner from the opposite sex. 

I particularly had a hearty laugh at this one anecdote I had written: “This time, at the Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties, I danced with a lot of boys (because Rashmi had not come)!” Rashmi, fyi, was our classmate, who was and still is one of the prettiest girls we had ever seen. @Rashmi: I loved you nevertheless, babe!!! :)

Other stuff these letters had: silly, obscene limericks, adult jokes, songs, sketches, et all! They were not just letters. There were canvasses of my life! I could actually imagine myself, plonked on my bed, scribbling ardently or secretly penning out these letters during a boring economics lecture in school.

Reading out excerpts from them was like going back in time. So many beautiful memories. And as I stood there, sharing that nostalgic moment with my friend, I wondered…why did we stop writing letters? Why don’t we have time for them anymore? And despite emails and facebook and all the photo-sharing we do, why doesn’t it feel as good as letters did?

All said and done, those days are never going to come back. At least I am thankful for having been a part of a generation that used to write letters and has now moved on to becoming tech savvy. I am glad I wasn’t born directly into this mad world of smartphones and tablet computers. Yes, that does make me seem older. But then, I am not complaining… :)