For The Love Of Letters

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Today, as I was sitting idle at home - wondering what next to do,  I was reminded of all those old stuffs from school safely hidden away under the small staircase cabinet ; the one  that mom had been asking me to clear since ages!! I wasn't even sure of what all it had or even worse - who all lives with those things in there!!So, braving all those thoughts and the really tempting comfortable bed of mine, I finally decided to give it a go..
                                        The first thing that my hand managed to grab was an old bag with few papers, a key chain someone had gifted, a single anklet, few tiny colored stones , a number of friendship bands, multiple packets of glitter powder,few coloured feathers still in half opened packets (oh yeah!i remember the SCW classes and hat making now :D ) . I continued to empty the bag and finally  my hand hit gold !! Neatly tucked inside one of the pouches were a set of letters, that too handwritten letters in blue inland!! I could feel a rush of memories and could recollect how the message inside looked even before opening it.

The very feel of them between my fingers was like having a solid connection to my friend who had sent me those. I don't know where she is or what she is doing now,(Facebook or Orkut were yet to be developed at the time we parted and born to parents with transferable jobs meant ever changing phone numbers ) but somehow it felt like I have retained a part of our childhood right there in those papers.
              The letters do have charm of their own - a warmth and intimacy that Facebook or SMSs fail to convey. The whole effort to buy the inands/post cards, jotting down all those thoughts in your very own handwriting, adding those childish smileys or designs just for that extra touch of love, the last minute search for stamps,the wait for the reply - all these seem to belong to a whole different era when people made time for what matters the most; when keeping in touch with someone was not done by an SMS that you hurriedly text from your mobile; when love was adorned with patience-something that seems to have been lost amongst the "pokes" and "pings".

               I  still remember the gleam in my father's eyes while showing me the first letter that mom wrote to him, something he had treasured for long 34 years!!And I can almost understand why- Those hand written letters convey something a tiny weeny bit more than the words it holds: It shows that someone , somewhere had treasured you in their thoughts from the time they had spent filling in those blank papers to the time they had safely dropped them in that red box, And for that sometime , you were not a mere passing thought but  were truly remembered, truly loved! And today when time is all that people are short of, such an idea seems like a real luxury to me, something so priceless that I might even fall in love with the one person who sends me a hand written letter!(well, not literally though  :P )


P.S : Years after this post was written, I did find someone who writes me hand written letters and loves me to the core. Love does work in  mysterious ways!!