LOVE - WITHOUT THAT LETTER... !!!!!

Remember that song – “Likhe jo khat tujhe.. woh teri yaad mein..”. Now imagine.. “Likhe jo email tujhe woh teri yaad mein” or “ Posted jo status message tujhe..?” or worse.. “Phool tujhe bheja hai  khat mein…” or “Phool ki tasvir bheji hai email mein?”

There was a time when a swan was the conduit of the message of love between Nala and Damayanti. My grade 3 Hindi teacher shared a very beautiful thought. If you have nice thing to share..write a letter or else you know..telegraph was popularly known to be bad news bearer those days. And now today there is internet as means to communicate - the facebook, whatsapp and what not..

I still cannot come to terms with this. Nothing can surpass the pleasure of pouring your heart out to a loved one on the piece of paper. The movement of the pen on paper is like the beating of your heart. You write, re-write, add a little more feel. You can choose stationery you like , indulge in calligraphy and poetry to your heart’s content finally sealing it with those petals of flowers inside..

And then there is the time and effort you have to invest in, to identify the means to deliver.Could it have been the same town, go for a kid living next door and you have to pray that s/he remembers to deliver it all. Awww..the long distance factor of this era, the postal method can help,knowing the dangers of being delivered into the wrong hands ( parents of the beloved?). So what do you do? Find a pigeon- who is often in the human form -  a friend who can deliver it while keeping it safe from prying eyes and hands. But then you might meet some “friends” who delivered letters promptly but made sure that they were allowed to read parts of it (just for kicks!)!  

Can the internet of modern times compete with any of these? For instance, it limits the font and style options and as also the writing stationery. It often leads one to type out single letters for complete words.  “u”  for “you”, isn't it? Nothing wrong you might say as it conveys the message adequately enough! But then communication when one is in love is not exactly telegraphic.. one wants to communicate verbally and non verbally- unfortunately in terms of verbal communication in the absence of direct speech U is a poor substitute! We lose the thrill of receiving in our hands a piece of paper that the loved one has touched with his/ her fingers – silly you say? But then whoever said that people in love were logical? You are silly, crazy and mad.. ! You long for connection but an email or that wall on face book or a whatsapp message are poor substitutes for the connection and communication that being in love demands!

I am sometimes surprised when I see some "mushy" status messages on facebook. They are obviously meant for someone special but unfortunately the forum is too public with 200+ friends around.. Then there are a few annoying ones to comment on that message embarrassing the living daylights out of the poor person for whom the message was meant. Sure the mobile is still around and with it, it is almost like holding his/ her hand all the time… ! I would again like to say that  nothing is like the written word!

Ask anyone of 'letters era', how it felt on receiving the first love letter? It is the first certificate in writing about your being an attractive person! You can  have someone tell it to you directly but a letter can be read, re read and re interpreted! You can see the handwriting and sometimes (like me)  notice the grammar and punctuation too deciding if the person is educated enough or well read enough to be worthy of your affection! You can store them in a box or tie them up with a red ribbon reading them when you are in your forties , fifties or seventies..! Tell me can you do that with email? I suppose you can take back ups but with the quick evolution of technology everything even ten years old quickly becomes redundant…!!!  First there was email and now there is skype! 

Let me make it clear , I am not against technology for communication. The piece I am writing through, popularly a blog, if it reaches you, is a breakthrough in terms of what technology can do to encourage people to express themselves which would not have ever reached you otherwise. But there is still 'communication' that demands a certain intimacy which can only come out of human efforts.

It will be amazing to treasure these handwritten cards of the days of courtship and see those down the time few years later. Those sheets of paper are the efforts made to reach out to loved one. The writing of the human hand is very unique – almost like a thumb print..! It is like having a part of the person on paper.

Try writing one and feel the magic..