Art of letter writing is on the verge of extinction
| Date :10-Sep-2019 |
By Vikas Vaidya :
The art of letter writing is on the verge of vanishing, was pointed out in ‘Loud Thinking’ in ‘The Hitavada’. In the past or to some extent now also, a few people enjoy writing letters to their friends, relatives, close ones. ‘The Hitavada’ talked to some people who still write letters to their dear ones, friends and enjoy. According to them, the letter writing art is darkening. Letter writing is not only related to language or writing skills, but it can be the great medium also where one can express in a better way. There is a thought process involved when one writes a letter. Sharing the joy of letter writing Wing Commander Ashok Mote called the activity as a unique one.
He recollected the memories during his postings at various places while working with Indian Air Force where he used to receive the letters from his father. “There was a night air mail service. The bus came and during night hours my father dropped the letter to be delivered to me. Those letters always delighted me. I still have preserved those letters,” the bubbling Wing Commander said. “Letter writing is a unique thing. I still remember the addresses where I was posted and received letters from my father. I still have those letters which are guiding light for me. Father, too, used to wait for my letters. His handwriting was fantastic. The letters were such as if they talked with me.
It is not I only experienced it but all those letter lovers agree with me. As IAF pilot, we used to carry ration, arms, ammunition, a bag full of letters to be delivered to jawans. I have peculiarly observed, the jawans were more keen to get the letters. We collected their letters, Money Order,” said Wing Commander Mote. Mote narrated a story of the book ‘Kusumanil’ written by his uncle Haribhau Mote. The story is based on the letters written by Kavi Anil and Kusumavati for each others before marriage and after too. Both were astonishing litterateurs so one can imagine the quality of those letters, added Mote. Recollecting the fact that Khushwantsingh used to write only on post cards to be sent to his fans, friends, Mote said, “Letter is a document of affection, loyalty, good will.
It is an art. The happiness when you get the letter from somebody close to you or friend or anybody, cannot be explained, cannot be expressed,” said Mote. Rina Sinha, Director of NIIT, talked about diminishing habit of book reading. She criticised technology a bit. “These days people have stopped reading. Unfortunate. Book reading has its own joy. Reading book and using leaf of Peepal as bookmark gives you immense pleasure. Yes, same thing can be said with letter writing. When we wrote letter we never got response immediately, it was impossible too unlike the way we receive on WhatsApp. But the entry of that quick response system, have made people unhappy.
If they don’t get response they get perturbed. They are in hurry while sending reply and receiving too. In letter writing that doesn’t take place,” elaborated Rina Sinha. “When we write letter we have to write carefully so that no single word of ours should hurt the other person. We can’t write rubbish. The process through which we go while writing a letter is wonderful. It makes us happy when we could beautifully convey our feelings to the person for whom we write the letter. Unlike WhatsApp or other social media, we don’t get immediate response in letter writing. But it has its own charm. We have to be careful while writing every single word and we have time too to think deeply over it.
There is no delete button while writing letters. One has to be composed while penning down thoughts,” explained Rina Sinha. Ravindra Govind Pande, who is Central Joint Secretary of Granth Bharati, has been writing letters to people for the last 20 years. He started this activity with 5 letters and gradually rose to 300 ones. He expresses regret as letter writing has almost been stopped. “People gradually stopped writing inland letters and started sending ready-made greetings whose message did not match. Receiving such greetings failed to make people happy. I realised and then I started writing post cards. I not only have general communication with people through postcards but also I do greet people through it. This not only keep me physically fit but also gives mental satisfaction.
I am disappointed as people stopped writing letters. If you keenly observe even the Postman, too, is getting vanished which is not good. We should write letters to whomsoever you want to, but the art of letter writing should not end,” expressed Pande. Dr G K Sarode, well-known Medical doctor is habitual of wishing people through post cards. He did not write letter in detail. But he expresses his wish through letter. He started letter writing when he was in college.
The advancement in technology did not deter his will to send letter. “I still send letter to people wishing them birthday, wedding anniversary, any new thing in their lives be it marriage, new job, new establishment etc. I never had any expectation from people. Some respond to my letter some don’t. The stalwarts like Jaal P Gimi or Justice Vikas Sirpurkar, Judge of Supreme Court; Union Minister Nitin Gadkari responded to my letters. If they respond it makes me happy. If somebody doesn’t reply, it did not make me unhappy. I keep sending the letters,” pointed out Dr Sarode.