Letters : An integral part of my life !!!

The world is moving at a fast pace and the pace is so fast that it seems I am unable to catch up with it.

The technology has advanced so much that it has removed physical distances between people. We have cellphones to call people at the very instant we may feel like, we can video chat with our near and dear ones sitting in some remote corner of the world. An email reaches to the user instantly, a tweet can be read by hundreds of followers instantly, and a Facebook status update conveys our feelings to all our friends at the click of mouse….

But there is a huge vacuum in my heart even after so much of technological advancement. And this vacuum has been created because these gadgets have made it so easy to contact people that we have forgotten the importance of these people in our lives. Our hearts are drifting away from each other.

The pain, the love, the warmth, the tears, the feelings which a handwritten letter contains is missing in all these means of communication.

Though I belong to the IT world but I proudly miss those days when letters were the means to communicate between people. Given a choice I would still prefer writing a letter to communicate my feelings rather than calling a person up.

I have grown up as an introvert keeping the feelings to myself. I would have continued the same way had I not had to stay away from my sister who is also my best friend. She had to move to Bangalore for higher studies and I to Lucknow to prepare for IIT.I could speak only twice a week if I was lucky enough to get my STD call through the hostel landline phone which was only allowed for 2 hours.

There came painful moment for both for us. We had grown up fighting, loving and sharing each & every feeling with each other. We had never imagined that now the distance would bring us more closely and make us realize the importance of each other.

What used to be the place of personal diary was now replaced by letters addressed to my sister. I would pour out my heart on them. My day to day activities, my struggles, my moments of joy and sadness, my sorrows, my excitements; I wrote everything in the letters. Same was the case with my sister. We both were away from homes to fight in this world on our own. I was slogging in my IIT coaching, with fierce competition around and no one but the letters from my family and sister as my counsellors.

It was the same for her too. Almost every alternate day or bi weekly I would write to her and at the same time wait impatiently for the postman to arrive. The moment I was given the letter my heartbeat would raise, my eyes would be moist and a gentle smile would be on my lips reading those encouraging lines. I could feel the immense love my sister would have sent it to me from hundreds of miles away. The tear on the letter could be easily felt telling that she too was missing her brother. The distance between has strengthened our bond and these letters have played vital role in it.

Life is such a bitch, it exhausts you and tests your patience and self-confidence to the fullest. It were the moments like these in which the letters from my sister and my family acted as solace and confidence boosters. Whenever I would feel low I would read the letter, feel rejuvenated and get on with my task.

As time passed and we got engaged in our so called busy lives the frequency of letters started dwindling but still we do send letters to each other. A rakhi wrapped into a letter full of love & warmth, a birthday card carrying the fragrance of love and wishes do reach me each year. I wait impatiently for these letters. They are an integral part of my life. I will always cherish the smell of the letters who have made me what I am today……..

This post has been written for the contest WRITE TO READ, an initiative by Pendown & Random House Publishers India.