We did lose a lot when we stopped writing letters. ”You can’t re read a phone call”, said Liz Carpenter, but we can’t get back what we erased or deleted either. The era, of brushing against, the object of your teenage dreams, was poetically poignant. The ‘filmy ‘hero, waited in a garden, or furtively lurked in a corridor, with all his heart, poured into tiny ink drops, and splattered on a piece of paper, lovingly folded into his pocket. How many hours, he could have waited or even how many years, for that guarded smile, from his weak in the knees, lady love, in answer to that soulful letter !! . Hopeful eyes, searching eagerly for the postman to arrive, the tinkle of his cycle bell, heralding tidings from far. Wives of soldiers on remote pickets, counted days to the arrival of the next letter. They spent a lifetime of waiting, for those reassurances of eternal love, from some snow covered corner, that their beloved, was guarding for his motherland. Those letters kept the woman loving and faithful, in the hope of those two months of leave ..the musical ”chhutti ”.
Yes, I know, emails are also letters, but you cant hold them, smell them, feel them. They somehow, belong to the technology they came from. They dont let you feel the power of ownershhip. The written word that can be easily deleted with the twitch of the hand, lacks the finality and certainty of a, hand written, epistle, a lovingly, painstakingly worded missive, that is posted with all your heart hiding in that envelope, seems a waste of time, in this age of instant gratification. Who has the patience of legendry lovers, who wasted away their youth, grazing cows, for one glance from their lady love? . No, letter writing is too time consuming, when you could be chatting and continuing with the sweat and grind of daily life, at the same time!
When one opens up, a crumpled heap of sepia tinted, raggedly letters, one can relive a life, albeit with many a sigh. A man’s letters lays his soul naked, vulnerable, to the one he truly cares for, till eternity. Give me a letter any day, oozing and dripping with emotion ….”ke tum meri zindagi ho , ke tum meri bandagi ho’
—International Beat Poet Laureate India 2023 -2024 , Caesar Vallejo award for literary excellence by UHE, Lily Swarn, internationally acclaimed, multilingual poet, novelist, essayist, columnist, gold medalist, university colour holder, radio show host, Peace and Humanity ambassador .
She has over 70 international and national awards including Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi award and her poetry is translated into 21 languages۔
Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi has awarded her recently “The Best Book of the Year Award ( 2023) ” for her book of English Poetry, The Divine Dialect of Flowers۔ Lily Swarn can be reached at [email protected]