Letters of My Life

I always wondered how the writing bug caught up with me and continues to bug me in its own way even in these days of Scraps, Wall postings and Instant Messages.I just had an introspection into my own life in a bid to find the answers for my questions. I couldn't find out the exact epicenter of the problem, but managed to realise that the desire to write sprouted up sometime during my childhood days.

Those were the days when the communication was limited to letters and the luxury of talking over the phone(Yes, it was a Luxury to talk over phone) was limited to privileged few. I remember how my father used to purchase Inland Letter Covers from Post-office (those cute blue coloured ones) and would write out letters to his siblings, parents and In-laws. I fondly remember how as a little kid I'd go on my knees beside him and read aloud each and every  word he wrote, much to his annoyance. He would promise me the liberty to write out last few lines if i could shut my mouth until he finished his letter.  Perhaps that's how it began. I'd wait patiently until he finished and left me with some space in the end for me to scribble my mind out.

I very well remember my first letter was for my Grandfather and it was about 6 lines full of nonsense stuffs which were never linked to each other. All I wrote was about the number of new buses that were plying in my area and which bus is the fastest among them and which was my favorite bus ( No, it was not my School Bus). My mother felt embarrassed that the real facts about my IQ would be out, but strange enough my father was happy because he could write letters without any disturbance.

As days progressed he'd get one separate Inland Letter cover for me, now i had my own secrets to share it with my grandparents or aunts which i didn't want anybody else to know, it should be confined only between my grandparents, uncle, aunts and their children and nobody else. By the time I came to high School I was Proof-reading his letters and even edited his letters.

Next step was in school where we were thought to write letters(basically leave letters), we were encouraged to write our own Leave Letters. But usual as it may seem there were always some estranged BackBenchers  (Though i was a BackBencher was never an estranged one) who'd come to me in tears during assembly and request me to write out a leave letter for them. I out of sympathy or authority (Am confused which one) would write out a leave letter and before the classes begin after the assembly the letter was ready (with the problems and illness totally decided by me).

Got involved with some troublemongers during my high school days and got into real trouble when i was caught red-handed bunking classes, howling in class, decorating the classroom with bits of paper as though i was decorating a honeymoon suite, drawing nasty/naughty pictures in my class notes. That was the time i was asked to write an Apology Letter. The letter had been so very apologetic that i was let off with a mere warning and without any punishment, then on i became a brand ambassador for writing Apology letters for others.

The heart beats of some of my classmates were very fast and loud, for they had managed to have Girlfriends (Or they thought so) by then. It happened one day, one of my classmate was struggling to write a LoveLetter to his ladylove(Puppy Love??!!). I on Pretext of helping him ended up writing out a LoveLetter to his Girlfriend. Strange!!! My First Love Letter was in high school and that too to a Girl who was someone else's Girl, A Girl whom i never saw or Met (rather i didn't even have the guts to ask him what happened after he gave the letter to her). It was written with great care with quotes taken from Bible. (A holy Love Letter!!!)

During my Post-Graduation days I was faced with a situation of getting over a branch Change, it was then i wrote out a Letter-Of-Application to the college Principal asking for a branch Change (Which never happened). There were some notorious moments in my student life, wherein we had to resort to a strike at the university level, strange and surprising it was when i realised that we had to submit a official petition before resorting to a strike. This was my first (perhaps my last) Petition Letter.

Perhaps many souls would have gone through the Job hunting phase in their life. How can anybody miss out the innumerous Covering Letter they wrote to attach it along with the Resume'.

Once i was landed with a job i thought the responsibility of writing letters would Ebb away slowly,but somehow i did not feel i belonged to the company where i worked for 6 months, so had to draft out a Letter of Resignation to move out to greener pastures.Once i entered into Shipping i thought i had escaped the onus of letter writing. But i soon realised i was wrong when i started noticing discrepancies/irregularities in our training system, hostel facilities etc; all our complaints to the concerned personnel fell on deaf ears until one fine day we were told "No Action will be taken unless you give your grievance in writing" thus began the act of writing Letter of Grievance/Complaint.

Finally the Era of Internet/ Information Technology moved in and people of our generations slowly moved away from conventional letter writing and marched towards E-mail, Scraps, Instant messaging Etc; But my life drew me towards Shipping, Once i started Sailing i was cut off from this world, so my folks began to write letters to me which revived my lost art and i was back to where i began. It brought back old memories and still manages to bring a cheer and Smile amidst all those strenuous work style on-board.

The Pandora's Box in my mind was opened and brought out all my hidden talents, i wrote out a Love Letter (This time for my own Girl Friend..) and when we broke up i wrote her a Hate Letter too.

I won the heart of a Girl, when i etched out the true feelings in my heart in form of a letter to her, who later became my Wife and we still Continue to write Love Notes (if not Love Letters) to each other.

I bet My penchant to write will never end even if i want it to or even if others pray for it to happen.