Why we must turn to letter writing again
WE ARE LEFT WITH NO TIME TO THINK OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY. MOST OF US NOW CARE MORE FOR OUR SMART PHONES THAN FOR OUR NEAR AND DEAR ONES
Those were the days when most people were illiterate. They would need help to read a letter. Letters were often the only source of news and views from near and dear ones in distant places. That’s why people were always eager to get their children trained in letter writing.
I still remember the day I wrote the first letter to my maternal uncle in my own hand. Writing a letter was a cathartic experience that helped release pent-up emotions and cool tired nerves.
Today, even telephonic messages have become outdated. Despite constant chatting on smart phones, sending a detailed email message can tense nerves and muscles. With the constant use of smart phones, a kind of endless chatter begins in our minds. We are left with no time to think of peace and tranquillity. Most of us now care more for our smart phones than for our near and dear ones. Each one is bent upon showing that we own the best smart phone. Such an expression of ego was nowhere to be seen when letters were written in one’s hand. The only competition was to write in one’s best hand.
The art of letter writing sharpens our minds, too. Since one’s handwriting is the index of one’s mind, its twists and turns do make a wonderful impression upon the mind of the recipient. Today, few know that a letter written in one’s hand carries not only the message packed into the letter but it also carries one’s innermost feelings. The message of the letter that you write in your hand often reaches the intended person even if you fail to post it!
After completing post-graduation in English, I was working as a tutor at a coaching centre in Ferozepur. One day, it occurred to me that I should write a letter of personal request to professor OP Kashyap, the head of the department of English at Ram Sukh Das College. I wanted to tell him that I needed a job and was qualified for a lecturer’s post.
I wrote to him with full focus but was reluctant to post the letter.
I still wonder at how magically the message reached him. The request letter was under my pillow and he sent a message that he needed a qualified person like me to take up the assignment of lecturer at his college.
Such coincidences happen for a reason. God’s divine design puts in order things we feel are going astray.
The first chapter I taught at the college was a story by Mark Twain. This great short story writer had firm faith in intuitive messages. Once he wrote a letter of request to his publishers asking why his royalty was delayed. He did not post the letter. He knew that as he had packed his message in his letter with full focus, it would click. And lo! the royalty reached him soon after.
Should we still ignore letter writing? What a way to cool down tense nerves! But must we wait for the results we request for? Just take a deep breath. It all depends upon how effectively we intuit the messages contained in our letter.