Letters.....

Till the popularity of emails we wrote letters, well at least I did anyway. Staying in a boarding school, the letter was the way to contact your parents, to let them know what was happening with you. I know there were telephones but then again they were expensive. I remember that I used to send a letter to my parents every week, it almost detailed what I did everyday. Well we were forced to write letters every week. Now when I look back at the stuff I wrote (my mom’s saved a greatest hit’s collection of letters I wrote and I came across it recently) I realized how I as a person grew up and what things were important to me at different points during those 5-6 years.

The first time I wrote a letter to my parents was when I was in the 3rd standard, it must have been a week or so after I joined boarding in Ooty, I can’t honestly remember what I wrote but I do remember the process, there were about 10 kids in the boarding school and we all sat together along with ‘Aunty’ (she was the person that ran the school) and discussed what we did during the week. Each person had to contribute something to the discussion, some ‘event’ that we were letting our parents know. It’s strange when I look at it now, we all discussed what we were going to write to our parents and the sat down to write the letter, I don’t know anyone that would do something like that today. Also after writing the letter we had to read it aloud and then hand it in for correction. So basically all in all 10-15 people knew what you wrote to your parents. What I found hilarious was the stuff that was written in each letter was always the same,
•       The weather was always ‘tricky’
•       The dog was always happy (I hated the damn thing)
•       Everyone else was enjoying themselves
•       And most of all you were always a picture of health

So clearly the lie’s started at an early age. :-)


Maybe a few years later the letters asked about people at home, answered questions that your parents asked you when they wrote to you and it became more of a dialogue. I saw letters where I’ve drawn a picture to fill the gap, I’ve drawn a maze or connect the dots for my brother or sister to solve or even at times, I wrote a rhyme. (the last bit was an attempt at another one)

Later on when I was unhappy in the boarding, I used to write 2 letters, one official which was read by the housemaster for some strange reason (talk about invasion of privacy) and another which I posted myself on my way to church. Those were the most fun letters, I expressed my displeasure about being in the hostel and once I even threatened to run away from the hostel if my parents didn’t come to see me the next weekend (it worked). I complained about everything, the food, the classes, the housemaster and every single thing imaginable. When I look at those letters now, it seems like I was in a concentration camp.

Now when I read those letters one thing I realize is that, my handwriting was better as a 10 year old and that I do miss hand writing letters and receiving hand written letters. Email is convenient but it just seems impersonal.