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The Endangered Art of Letter Writing

by Nirmal

Oh, how I love when she comes into my office. The moment I see her, my face glows with joy. Then I enjoy her company. Her mere presence lifts my spirits for at least a day or two, and sometimes even for a week.

But regrettably in recent times she tends to come into my office or home less and less frequently. I have been meditating as to the causes of this misfortune.

But first of all let me tell you who she is.

She is not who you have been thinking! She is a letter from my friend or a relative!

I have been thinking that perhaps the main reason people do not send her to me is that they would rather phone or send me an e-mail. Having a phone nearby which they can use to call me up in seconds, they are less inclined to spend half an hour from their busy daily schedule to write a letter, stick it into an envelope, look for the correct postage stamp and then finally drop the envelope into a mailbox.

Having acquired the habit of using the telephone, they are losing or have lost the habit of letter writing. "Habit is the second nature of man," so goes the saying. And how true it is!

But I feel strongly that the endangered art of letter writing is an art worth preserving. It is an art which I cherish, for it was through this art that I found my first love. I met her in a friend's home. I was twenty and she was nineteen. I talked to her a little and fell in love with her at once. The next day I left her home and returned to my hostel. I wrote her a letter in which I expressed my love for her. I asked her to tell me more about herself. Then I spent the next seven days waiting for her reply. Finally the mailman put it under my door. She had been enthralled by my words and my sentiments. She wrote in detail about herself which meant that she had accepted my friendship. Over the next three years we exchanged numerous letters which deepened and broadened our friendship.

We had no faxes then nor E-mail. There were telephones but we had no access to them. But we had pen and paper and the mailman and that was all we needed. We never felt handicapped by our lack of access to high technology communication devices.

Letter writing is not merely a habit that can be dispensed with in favour of a better habit. It is an art form which can never be replaced. Every one who loves art regerts the dying away of any art form. The French who have always loved and cherished art and literature are acutely aware of the pain that the slow death of letter writing causes.

In May 1996, the French post office distributed a form letter to each of the France's 26 million households, signed "Your Mailman" which modestly stated, "I am the messenger of your sentiments, your hopes, your troubles, your expression of love and friendship. I am proud of this." This was done on the first national "Letter Day." "Fine paper, a carefully chosen stamp, a well written letter all that shows one's esteem. It is a refined act, a considered message. It's a bit of one's personality," said the head of the French Post Office.

Now let us discuss the benefits of letter writing. When you write a letter, the recipient knows that what you have written is well thought out. Unlike amessage conveyed over the phone, your letter can be read as many times as necessary. It can be preserved for one two or hundred years.

In a letter you can say what you want to say, precisely and unambiguously, whereas in a telephone conversation you may get interrupted and end up not saying what you had really planned to say.

Also in a letter you can express your feelings in a way that is not possible to do using other medium. When writing to a dear friend, you can say, "Your friendship is dearer to me than the vastest treasure of gold, ruby or emerald." When writing to a spouse who is away, you can say, "The torture caused to me by your absense is worse than that inflicted upon the prisoneres of the most heinous wars." It is difficult to express these words while talking over the phone.

But the best advantage is economy. A letter of one sheet (two pages) still costs much less than the cost of conveying the same message over voice line. Since the basic factor governing all our habits and life style is money, the next time you think about picking the hand set, think about how much you could save by writing a letter instead.

And for those of you for whom time is more important than money, here is a suggestion. Get organized. Keep three folders, or three compartments in a single folder. In one keep copies of your letter head with your address, phone and fax nunbers preprinted. In the second, keep envelopes with correct postage stamps affixed. In the third, keep address labels of people with whom you correspond often. These files will quicken the process of writing and sending letters.

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