The good old letter faces fear of extinction
My name is Letter. I have been around since time immemorial; written and sent since antiquity. Across time, my format has changed. I have come a long way from the days I was handwritten. I would travel by means of transport available back then. It took time to be written, posted and delivered to different geographical locations. Times have changed!
From my peers, I have learnt that in the ancient world, as a ‘Letter’, I was written on different material – metal, lead, waxcoated wooden tablets, pottery fragments, animal skins and papyrus. With the advent of communication technology, posted letters became less important. The telegraph intervened. It shortened the delivery time of the ‘message’ that I would earlier deliver. Then came telex (facsimile) machine. And, today, I am in the internet orbit, as ‘e-mail’, flung across the globe in a jiffy! Sometimes, I remain in the inbox waiting for a mouse to click me open.
Going by the way I have transformed and morphed, one day, I decided to trace by origin, my ancestors; I Googled. This is what popped-up on the screen: ‘the first recorded handwritten letter (epistle) was by Persian Queen Atossa, around 500 BC. The stamped letter we know today came into being in the reign of Queen Victoria in 1840. Before this date, letters did not have stamps or envelopes and the receiver of the letter had to pay on its receipt’. Wow!
As ‘Letter’, let me briefly share my characteristics. I have been written in code language, invisible ink; typed. I am the medium; convey emotions, messages – personal, professional; news – happy, sad; make people laugh, cry; lead them to hopes and despairs. I awaken, educate, inform, inspire; make people think. I tell stories, teach history. I am literature, prose, poetry. I reveal secrets. I am a hobby; a craft, an art. I have been compiled into books. I have an element of timeliness, universality!
I have fond memories of Punjab Public School, Nabha, where over half-a-century ago, as ‘Letter’, I was very popular. I remember students eagerly waiting for Saturday — the ‘letter writing day’ — when holding fountain pens in their little fingers they would look forward to distribution of ‘light green-coloured inland lettercards’. (These are extinct now.) The English teacher would write the first few lines on the blackboard for all to copy, and, thereafter, students would fill the page with their musings; share sighs and smiles with their parents! As ‘Letter’, I felt wanted, proud and important!
When it comes to newspapers, as a ‘Letter’, I am a class apart! Usually, my abode is the editorial page — the ‘heart and soul’ of a newspaper. I am the pulse of the people; readers’ voice. My locality is: ‘Letters to the editor’. Here I am known by my original name - ‘Letter’. The edit-page gives me identity; helps ‘letter-colleagues’ unwind; share their perceptions on men, matters; editorials, op-ed; news, comments.
My ‘colleagues’, on edit-pages, have an ‘attitude’. Here, in the Hindustan Times, it is different; my place and position is pretty fixed — on the region page. This gives me an advantage: I am close to rhythm of life (readership)!
As a community, we, ‘the letters’, are as much a witness to myriad changes in a newspaper: from font-size to format; display to layout and design, as we act as a barometer of societal and readership mood swings.
Sometimes, I feel like being pushed into oblivion; sigh! People no longer write letters. People use new gizmos, gadgets and Android phones to text messages in abbreviated language – in less than 140 characters! My fear: may become extinct one day. Or, may be survive onslaught of communication technology under some other name: SMS or email! Yours, Blurring-out-of-sight ‘Letter’
PEOPLE NO LONGER WRITE LETTERS, THEY NOW TEXT MESSAGES IN ABBREVIATED LANGUAGE