Letters had been a popular mode of communication until a few years back. It was the bearer of news from across the world to family and friends. A simple piece of paper, carrying infinite emotions sealed in itself. Stories of success and failures, happiness and grief, of well-being and illness the humble letters have seen it all!
Writing and receiving letters had their own charm. Postcards, inland letters, aerogram each had an experience to share. The envelope was reserved for someone special, with the letter written on a beautiful paper! The inland letter was a plain blue sheet which was foldable and one could write on 3 sides. Initially when I wrote on the inland letter, my letters would start from a point and start travelling upward north. I still remember the thrill I experienced when finally I managed to master the art of writing in a straight line :-). I was proud of my accomplishment. The handwriting in the letters too had styles. While some were elegant and printed like, we had a tough time reading a few illegible ones. But it was so much fun trying to decipher the written matter!
When I got engaged, which was before the advent of emails and mobiles, my fiancé would write to me very often. When his letter arrived my younger brother and sister would run around the house with the letter refusing to give it to me. After a lot of pleading, cajoling and bribing, they would finally pass on the letter to me. The letter then transported me into a world of love and dreams
Except for a few official letters, writing and receiving letters have become a rarity, thanks to the instant messaging systems of today. But I genuinely feel that the letter had a vintage charm to it. I vividly recall the euphoria of receiving a letter, for the first time, with my name written on it. 🙂 A few years back for children’s day, I wrote a letter to both my kids, telling them why they are so special and how proud they make me feel. The expression of surprise and delight on their face on receiving the first and probably the only letter was priceless!!
It is really sad that the beautiful art of letter writing is slowly dying a natural death. These days except for a few official letters there is hardly any correspondence exchanged on paper. Thanks to the gigantic technological strides we have taken, in a few years’ time this beautiful form of exchange of news will have to be laid to rest completely…..R.I.P!
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nice post…i still have a mini-trunk full of letters & post cards.. cherish them!
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Same here! guess we are the last generation of people who until sometime back, exchanged news more with letters than phones!
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hahaha…i keep taking those treasured items during every transfer!
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Right! since they are a trunk full of treasured and cherished memories, there is no way you can leave them behind 🙂
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so true….only, my daughters managed to sneak a peak at some of ‘those’ letters last year. they had a blast teasing us!!
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🙂 🙂
Oh well, I can imagine their laughter……with kids these days everything is instant……no patience for elaborate hand written stuff !!
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so true radhika…changing times…
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Then there was the humble post card.
.Posted from a small hamlet in Tamilnadu to the soldier in the outpost at Mokakchung in Nagaland with a message that he had become a proud father of a baby boy. The letter posted by his mother, would reach maybe after ten days, but reach it would.
All for a cost of 5 paise.
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Wow! Unbelievable!!
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That’s so cute.. u have written love letters ❤️️❤️️❤️️… none with me … all I have are chat sessions n emails…hahah….
But not only this … there will be a time I think technology takes over n there won’t be even written books, as it is ‘kindle’ is taking over….everything on laptop, internet… the meaning of writing changes to clicking or typing n maybe ppl will find ‘written paper’ in museums 🤔🤔🤔
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I agree with you totally. As it is many schools have replaced note books with I pads, Kindle is taking over the books, most transactions are done online…. So it’s a matter of time before paper finds its place in the museum!
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Oh i didn’t know some schools have already started using Ipad’s … so the museum thing we might see it in our lifetime only i guess 😂😂
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Oh yes the international schools already use them. Yes Shefali quite a possibility that we might get to see the paper in the museum during our life time 😁
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How I wish I could reply you by writting a letter…its always a delight reading your posts. You took me back to those days of my childhood when my teacher in 4th std asked us all to bring a postcard with reply card attatched to it! And then we all wrote letter to our loved ones asking them to reply back as we will get marks on it. That was my first letter…
I wrote to my aunt and I was dancing when few days back got reply! 🙂
I too feel sorry like you to see this beautiful way of communication losing its charm!
Nostalgic post Radhika! Evoked so many good memories, if I start sharing could never end… 🙂
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Yes Meenakshi. The joy of writing and receiving letters is lost now. At least we have pleasant memories associated with it. But kids today lose out on so many little joys of life that we enjoyed!!
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Actually! I feel sad for today’s generation who are not living and enjoying life in a natural way that we did. The life they are living is more artificial now!
But I’m sure your post and efforts will give them an insight to peep into our beautiful past!! 🙂
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Lifestyle is changing very fast. So the children are helpless but to go with the flow of the change. I do try to give my kids a glimpse into how we spent our childhood. But they can only listen to such stories and read about them, not actually experience them.
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True!
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Very nice post. I still keep some of my precious letters. As technology grows many things are vanishing.
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Thanks Sumith. Those precious letters are to be cherished. Technology is slowly eroding into our lives beyond imagination!!
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I so agree with your words, Radhika. I wrote a post on the same topic a few months back. We, who have seen the era of snail mails, have a special place in our hearts for letters… 🙂
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I keep most of the cards and letters people give me, and I am also saddened that this art is slowly going away.
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That’s nice Joanne. Letters and cards will always have a special place in our homes. The art of letter writing is sadly under going a gradual death. Thanks for your feedback !
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Cajoled yes, pleaded yes, bribed??I don’t recollect 😉
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It is sad that these days nobody remembers the favours done 😦
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🙂
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A nostalgic post indeed…letter writing was very much part of the English tests…
WA and texting may have perhaps driven many English teachers to suicide 😉
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Oh no we actually wrote letters, other than the ones for tests……
I agree on your next point though…….. the brutal butchering of the spellings irritates me to a great extent. 😦 😦
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I can imagine your thrill when your fiance’s letter arrived!!
I’m old school too when it comes to this…emails & texts deny the charm of good ol’ hand written letters:)
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Oh yes Divya, I used to be on cloud nine when his letters arrived……I feel the charm of the hand written letters is unmatched to this day!
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So very well expressed, Radhika! I am doubtful if this generation is aware of letters and the wait for the postman.
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Thanks Pranitha. Unfortunately one of the many joys they cannot experience…….
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Very true and beautiful……after reading this i m going to read all the letters i have, to relive that moments, to relive with that persons and to relive this post ;)…..awesome post 🙂
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Thank you Rohit. I am sure you will have a great time reading all your letters again .👍
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Yeah…it should be 😉
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So true radhika…sadly no one writes letters anymore..I do have a bagful of letters aNd cards from my school n.college days and reading them sometimes makes me so nostalgic…beautiful post and blog…
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It indeed is a nostalgic trip. I have a treasure house of them and enjoy reading them. Thanks so much for reading and your feedback Jaya.
Best wishes for Diwali!
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Diwali wishes to you too Radhika…:)
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लैटर राइटिंग की आर्ट वास्तव में अब समाप्त हो रही है।पर यही आर्ट हमारे व्यूज़ कौ सदियों व शताब्दियों तक सुरक्षित रख सकती है क्योंकि नेट व कम्प्यूटर के डाटा व मैमोरी डिलीट हो सकती है पर लैटर के लैटर्स नहीं। अत:हमें अपनेथॉट्स व व्यूज़ को सेव करने के लिए लैटर राइटिंग सेव करना ही पडेगा।
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Absolutely true. Letters can be saved and cherished a life time. It also gives a very personal feeling unlike the emails and messages. Thank you do much for stopping by and sharing your views!
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My mum and dad spent most of their years of courtship away from each other and both love writing . Their love for words and eachother spilled into pages ( am talking 20 pages each letter). Both have kept those and we have a bag full of those days gone by . I have kept the ones Ry wrote to me before and then after marriage and he’s kept some too . I can’t let go of cards, postcards or anything handwritten for that matter. It just feels like a part of someone’s self. Like their emotions spilled out of their heart and found meaning on paper . Lovely post , Made me so nostalgic !
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Wow ! That is a mega letter exchange 😍😍
I agree, it is difficult to let go of all the beautiful letters and cards received. Innumerable emotions and memories attached to them. They simply become a part of you. Thanks so much Pri, I am glad that the post kindled some beautiful memories for you 😍😍
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Ye it did !!! Infact I should dig out those and probably read them all over again , nice way to unwind !
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👍👍
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Oh how I agree with this piece Radhika. I myself am a huge letter-person. Though I haven’t written any in last few months, but other than that I still remember how writing a letter for someone, and receiving one under your name, can lighten up your whole world. ❤
Writing letters is not much prevalent in today's world, but I won't say RIP to it as long as I don't give up writing them. 😉 🙂
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I am glad that you enjoy writing letters Aditi. Oh yes! The thrill of receiving a letter in your name beats the instant messages hollow. It saddens me a lot to see it dying a gradual death. Thanks Aditi for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! Have a good day😊
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No problem Radhika. 🙂
You have a good day too. 🙂
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Your post is really nice, I like it. However, I don’t think that we need to be afraid of losing this art. Although I agree with you, the technology won over the letter writing, but it also helped us to find interested people to exchange snail mails with over the world. I have been exchanging letters for 15 years (I started when I was 10), and I have no idea what I would do without writing a letter. There are many groups on Facebook where you can find other interested people to write to, or Interpals, Students of the World, Swapbot… and so on. I have a post about these sites, if you’re interested, you can check it 🙂
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Thanks dear friend for stopping by and sharing your inputs. Glad that people still want to keep this art alive. Was not aware of these groups. Will definitely check them out.🙂👍
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