Dear Letter..!

My Tamil Blog “கடிதம்” modified in English

Dear Letter,

“Chitraaaaaaaaa…” I heard my mom calling out to me. “Coming….” I replied and started walking towards the master bedroom. As I was approaching her I noticed some papers in her hands. “This was the first letter your dad wrote to me” “These were the letters your grandpa wrote to me after I got married and went to Delhi” when she uttered these words in a delighted voice, I noticed an excitement in her eyes and a glow in her face. Stupefied by her reaction I took those from her. As I started reading them I experienced a very different feeling which I have never felt before. The more I progressed in the letter the feeling grew stronger and sweeter. This not only made me understand the reason behind the spontaneous reactions my mom exhibited but also about you (letter).

There is life in you which not only your possessors understand but also their close associates. Whether this exists in todays “emails” and “sms” is the big question mark. Our generation (I am no exception) is so used to superficially writing hw r u, swthrt, lol, gn tc, k, s, y, luv u, wassup and stuff like emoticons for everything including sending a smiley “ :-) ”, hmmm, mmm, or just “…” when u actually don’t have anything to say or reply. This kind of interactions not only lack depth while communicating but also gets backed by artificiality many times.

There are various dimensions to the recipient’s understanding of the multiple flavours of emotions the sender expresses. You showcase mother’s care, love, dad’s concerns, friendship, siblings’ affection, even sad happening, bitter incidents and also happy news and casual greetings. All these gets effectively transmitted through you but in this fast, tech savvy world real feelings and emotions seem to lose its value. When I read you, I feel bonded as I see the handwriting of loved ones which can never ever be sensed even if numerous fonts in various sizes and patterns are used.

The person who writes takes effort, channelizes his thoughts, structures the words to reflect his ideas thereby giving it a shape and flow which when bestowed with feelings and penned down it gets life. However an effortless typing becomes valueless which may just convey to a person but cannot percolate into a person.

The joy of waiting for you, the pain of longing for you, impatience between the moment you are received and the time we begin to read, anxiety while reading, the connect established with the sender all are priceless. Most importantly later in life when you are reopened, the memories revived, the moments recollected and the emotions reborn are unexplainable in words.

Signing off with a heavy heart for being deprived of you all these years

and reconciling by at least understanding and propagating your greatness.

Chitra S