I Got A Snail-Mail!

Posted on by Parul Thakur

Snail-Mail? What’s that?

When I was growing up, these were called letters. We used to write letters to friends in other cities, cousins and grandparents. When I first used a computer, I was in Mumbai on a vacation and I typed a letter on MS word to have it printed and sent to my parents. Such important was a letter to show one cared and loved their dear ones.

With emails, letter writing has become obsolete. With one click, your email reaches the recipient and who wants to take the pain of writing, sealing and then dropping a handwritten letter into a post box? Then wait whether it was delivered or not? What if the letter was lost or it was opened and trashed for the greed of currency in it? What if the postman couldn’t track the address? So many what ifs.

But the charm of receiving a letter when you are least expecting it is the one that beats the desktop notifications of an e-mail. And at B-A-R, a blogging support group that I am a member of, we tried to experience that charm all over again. Like secret Santa works, those who were interested shared their names and Shailaja paired us up. We knew who we were writing to but who will write a letter to us and from which part of the world was unknown.

My letter came all the way from London and was sent by Aditi Kaushiva. It was a late evening and immediately after my call, the door bell rang and our apartment guard handed over the letter that had come during the day. I looked at the envelope trying to figure out the handwriting. I even thought what it could be cos after showing interest in the activity, I had almost forgotten that a snail mail was on its way. A couple of minutes later as I was opening the letter, I knew what I had in my hands and my joy knew no bounds. It was such a pretty letter and a beautiful Houses of Parliament, London postcard for me. Aditi had very sweetly shared a couple of things about herself and had also appreciated my writing and my blogging routine. It felt amazing to have a proof right in front of my eyes and the value that hand written words bring.

A friend was home that evening and she too read the letter. It seemed as if I had a well-earned trophy in my hand and I just wanted to show it off. That’s the charm of a hand written letter – the paper, the ink on it, the writing, the crossed t’s and the dotted i’s. The flow of words and so many thoughts encompassing. Through BAR, I got another chance to receive a letter and write one too. I also got another chance to know Aditi a little more than I would have known by reading her blogs.

Letter from Aditi
Letter from Aditi

Have you tried writing to someone? Try it. It’s therapeutic. 

23 thoughts on “I Got A Snail-Mail!”

  2. I was as excited as you were when writing this letter to you! And then the anxiety of whether or not it’ll reach you in time. Glad you liked it! 🙂

    This was such a fun activity, I’m planning to continue this…

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  5. Ah! Nothing beats the joy and excitement of letter writing. Beautiful post card, penned letter and crisp handwriting it beats e-mail notification, any day. Drop me your address, you may be in for a surprise, sometimes soon:)

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  8. This is such a lovely initiative :). I would love to be a part of this :D. Ahh the joys of writing / reading a hand – written later. The good old times :).

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  9. This was some fun activity! Writing and receiving hand written letters has its own charm! You didnt mention, who received your letter?

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  10. I would have loved to be part of it.. 8n school every Sunday we were asked to write inland letters. .

    I still ha e so many letters in my treasure ..

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