The last time I used a letter box was about 15 years ago. My father had asked me to drop an envelope inside a red colored postal box located close to our house.
In my childhood during eighties, I use to see a postman visiting our area almost daily. A postman’s job was to physically visit a place to deliver a letter, mail or a parcel. Practically a human carrier of messages. Dressed in a khaki pants and a khaki shirt with a matching cap, the postman carried a bag full of letters inside. It was a cloth bag which stuffed with envelopes inside.
Sometimes, due to the weight of it, the postman would leave the bag with the security at the gate and carry only a few letters which had to be delivered to the recipients house. There were no lifts or elevators in those days. So, logically it made sense not to take the heavy bag along as he had to climb up the staircase.
Each postman was assigned a specific area or a locality. Therefore, we were familiar with our postman and personally knew him, and this was a case with most other citizens as well. Sometimes, a different postman would also pass by our street but we knew that he’s not carrying our message. The day a postman knocked at our door, it use to be a special occasion. Every family member would ask curiously whose letter is it? Reading a letter was exciting and use to be a trending topic of discussion for that particular day. And if someone was not present at that moment, he or she would get updated on their return.
The family use to sit and collectively discuss the reply to the letter. What information has to be shared and the latest developments in the house. Be it about a child’s exam results or an upcoming function, start of a new job or purchase of a gadget. Everything use to get discussed and appropriately written in the letter, and mostly, this task was handled by the head of the family. After completing the letter, one of the member would got out and drop it in the letter box, and then we would await for a reply from the other-side.
This process of communicating with our relatives, friends and even business associates use to take weeks and months. It was all subject to how far the letter would have to get delivered. Sometimes, if the recipient was travelling, about which we may not be aware of, the reply use to get delayed. And on few instances, some people would inform about their holiday and travel plans well in advance. It’s a courtesy which we extended because not everyone had a telephone in their houses in those days. So, a large part of communication happened via handwritten letters is what I remember.
Writing a letter in a legible handwriting was a skillful task. The member in the family with the best handwriting use to get this privileged role. After all, handwriting represented the families stature in some form. And the most challenging part was that there was no scope of making errors. But, sometimes there use to be a cancellation of words here and there on account of human error about which but no one complained.
Another interesting fact is that many people use to preserve their old letters to show it to the younger generation. Reading letters was also a past time whenever relatives would visit a house. It gave them a chance to know about the well being of the people staying far-off. This way, the values of sharing, caring and concern for others remained intact, and this is how we stayed connected and connections were more meaningful.
Visiting a post office was quite normal in those days, and the elders in the family were aware of the working system of the local postal department. It was a skill which they taught and passed onto the the younger generation., just like the banking process which we learnt from our parents.
Some people also developed interest for stamps and made it into a full time hobby. I know one of my uncle who is a passionate stamp collector and lives in Madhya Pradesh. He participates in exhibitions to showcase his collection, and he will never skip mentioning about his hobby whenever we meet. It’s pretty rare now, and if someone is into this they will be labelled as old fashioned.
Letter writing was not limited between families and relatives. Many special relations and life long bonds were built through exchange of love letters. Although, I never had a chance to write one but I am sure this write-up will revive memories of those who practiced and mastered the art.
Today, technology has changed the entire fabric of communication. The purpose of sending and receiving a message has lost meaning to some extent, and reduced to a practical demand. We have molded ourselves into the culture of gmail, what’s app and fb messenger with time. The personalized touch is lost, and so are the emotions.
The marketing brand gurus and the creative advertising souls have given messaging a new dimension. One of the marketing techniques which I know they use frequently is ‘Email Marketing’ by which they keep sending newsletters. I am writing about this in particular because personally I find it very annoying. Thankfully, these messages get tagged as Spam.
Any one who has signed up for an email account gets blasted with hundreds and thousands of marketing emails. The moment you login, you will have brands offering you an insurance, free trading account, personal loan, holiday packages, credit card with extra reward points, real estate properties, shopping discount coupons, free entry into a seminar for education abroad, air miles and much more. The list is exhaustive. One of the email read ‘You are invited to buy a house in the most luxurious real estate projects by our company in Dubai and this invite is only for an elite few’. How could they assume that I am looking for a house in Dubai? At least the email made me feel that I fall in the elite category….they just nailed it.
Email marketing services like the mailchimp, sendinblue, moonmail and so many others have taken up the role of a postman in the modern times. And these tools operate smartly and don’t visit our houses at all. They just cleverly drop an email into our inbox and the transaction is over. How many of us read such mail’s is a question mark. The core essence of communication has got diluted and I wonder what is the relevance of sending bulk emails.
What do you feel, which era of communication was better, the current one or the old system. Clearly, both have their positives and downsides and I leave it on you to decide. For me, the old one was slow paced yet meaningful hence better.
BY THE WAY… HAVE YOU DROPPED A CHRISTMAS GREETING IN A LETTER BOX FOR YOUR LOVED ONE?
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Author: Vijay Malhotra, Mumbai
