I'VE GOT A MAIL

To: JC, Punakha

From: DC, Phuentsholing

This sure is snail mail. I received your letter on 23rd; almost a month since you wrote and you also received my mail very late. I had been expecting your reply and I have been checking the post box every other day.

A promise is a promise and if we don’t keep a promise we made, we rather not make it in the first place. I guess you will agree. Some people make promises just for the sake of it and they don’t know the value of a promise. Many people broke all the promises they made to me. It does hurt but I have learned to move on even if it is with the hurt.

There are times in life when life jolts us and we are surprised. Our wishes don’t get fulfilled often but there are times when they are. So this letter writing wish was one of the get-fulfilled kinda wish.

… … …

Of course we will see how long we will be able to go on with this letter writing wish of ours. Till next time. We should tell Bhutan Post to speed up. LOL.

Hugs!

That was a tiny fraction of a letter I last received on September 1, 2010 from my new pal who lives few miles away. I would have loved to share the whole letter but I’m sure my pal would not approbate to it and hence to protect the privacy, I’ve referred to us by initials only and the addresses are missing too.

LETTERS! I’ve always loved writing letters especially to my close friends (except in schools when we had to write for some English paper in a freezing examination hall). We would write all those stupid and nonsense in it. Fill the letter with every little detail possible of things going around us. Before when we didn’t have an email account, we would frequently write letters. It used to take me hours and hours to conclude one single letter. Somehow or the other, I could not stop writing once I began. There was so much to write and time was never a setback then. But now, with the busier schedule each day (at least I claim to be busy now and then), people hardly have time to write letters. It’s heartrending that people have actually given up writing mails. Instead Emails have replaced letters as a medium to at least keep in touch and share about each other’s happenstances. Now people are patiently waiting for one of us to email. But I’m still waiting for people to send me a hand written mail. There’s always this unusual charm of ‘hand written’ letters (however the handwritings may turn out). And in return, the least we can and need to do is graciously reply back.

Oh, I love reading letters too, a lot actually (except those with official seals on it). I can go on reading books with full of letters in it. I especially love reading all those love letters in movies and books. It leaves me all emotional. I’m in awe of how everything can get so romantic and at times heartbreaking. I like to collect those letters from books and movies. In fact I’ve a few collections of them. I like to read them whenever I get caught by my mood swings. I also have a collection of letters, I don’t know since when and I consider lucky enough for having received at least one letter in a year. Receiving them, it has so often made all the differences in more ways than they will ever know. And this takes me back to my new pal and how we got into writing to each other. We’ve been complaining of technology for making people discontinue writing letters but I should also acknowledge it for letting me pen down my thought in my facebook status. It was one fine afternoon on July 20, 2010 when I had mentioned about world that stopped writing letters. Thanks to my new comrade who helped me get what I wanted then. It’s not always that you get your wish fulfilled.

Letters make me go weak. I get back to my normal mood if I receive a letter during my woebegone moments. They have always absorbed me overpoweringly. It’s wonderful how that empty pages gets calligraphed beautifully with wide range of expressions. I can read the same letter again and again. No box is more exciting to open than one treasured with letters. The smell of the old letters with those pages containing meaningful words. Ah, so much so that makes it the most priceless assets one could own. Isn’t it so amazing?

So, fanatics who share my adoration of writing-reading letters let’s bring back the anticipation, keep the flame and carry on the passion for years to come. Give me your permission to hope for the same. I do hope amidst so much of activities in your life, you still continue to write in, especially to your loved ones living at the other end. Who knows you might find yourself fulfilling their long awaited wish along with yours like we found ours.

Until then, while I go and reply back to my new pal, why don’t you go, get hold of a letter pad and start writing too? You never know, you might get a great new adventure waiting for you to be read, the next time you check out your post box or pigeon hole. So, who’s joining me for a game of letter writing?

Mail-y, JC

PS. "What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call." - Liz Carpenter


PPS. Keep those letters coming (and going)!

One of my most prized possession: My LETTERS!!!