Up to speed with snail mail : Valley Vision

The best part is the opening of the envelope.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Unexplainable, but an experienced reality! This indeed matches the handwritten postal letters as that were the lifeline for a generation. It was a link between the people and communities for decades. It was a time when the childhood had non-digitally influenced, specifically the period of 90’s kids, which is a popular term in the present social media age. It was the memories of golden old days, but it doesn’t mean 90’s kids are not living with the new age technologies. Rather to say they, like me, are lucky to have both of the worlds.

New generation may wonder what the 90’s kid could do for communication in the digital free world. But that is just a misinterpretation only. They too had a great time of communication. Postal letters were one of the golden eras of the 90’s kid. It may take days and months to get a reply for a postal letter, but it’s bond of relationship is unexplainable. “I’m fine. Hope you are doing well” – this was a common sentence that had used for the introduction of a handwritten postal letter. And, it had a meaning of heart that was enough to fill the gap of the time taken.

The letters had no boundaries. I had realised it as I belong to the Malabar region of Kerala, where majority elders, especially among the Muslim families, find their livelihood in the Gulf countries. In my case also, it was not different. I had uncles, cousins and many others in my family in the Gulf countries and I used to write the postal letters for them. As routine, I start the letter with the sentence of “I’m fine. Hope you are doing well”, but the rest of the content will be my childhood cravings, but I had to wait for their return at home to realise my demands. It takes time to reach the communication on each side, but the bonds were incomparable.

The older generation remembers the time when letters were the only way to communicate with each other. As a child, the khaki-clad man who used to visit home frequently was dear to us. He used to come with hopes and expectations. When we received a friend’s letter, a New Year’s greeting card, a love letter or any of these… That was an unexplainable feeling of the generation. I always had kept a hope that the postal letters were for me when he had used to come at my home, but it unfortunately might be for somebody else. That definitively had gifted me a sad feeling. In other words, the postman’s arrival left two kinds of feeling; pleasure and sad – two tales of postal days.

The content of postal letters had mixed feelings. It might be filled with family matters, current affairs and sometimes jokes that had a comfort, encouragement and awakening for the people. The most vital question of the time was who would break the cover of the postal letter? Most probably, the eldest of the family break the cover. But the great expectation put on each handwritten letter – that was unexplainable.

The khaki clad postman was a feeling, that was unexplainable. But wasn’t he the guest who came with the inland and envelopes and brought indescribable joy? Gone are the days of letters. Telephone, email and mobile have now become a part of life. At the same time, the postman’s arrival has become a rare event. However, he still comes though occasionally with a speed post or a registered post. But, the feelings of hearts had inscribed in the handwritten postal letters that had used to come in the past. And, if we keep the old letters in our collection, there is nothing else that brings so much sweetness to the mind.

As the World is celebrating Post Day every year on October 9, it reflects a communication that starts with “Dear,” and ends with “My own…” was a feeling of hearts. An unexplainable feeling! What else can I write about when one more postal day is over?