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COMMUNICATION - Part 3

COMMUNICATION - Part 3

UMA wrote on 29 Sept 2004

Dear Mama

Your mail on communication( and lack) is suberb. It brought back nostalgic memory of my childhood days of Allahabad. When we returned from school, Amma used to read to us letters written by Patti Thatha, Mama, Chitappas and others. It was a cherished moments for us.

The internet and email though brought us in touching distance but _the personal touch_ of reading a hand written letter is missing now a days. The songs Sandeshe aate hain, chitti aathi hai and _dakia dak laya_ are living tribute to our postal system.

After reading your mail I listened to these lovely songs many times. An apt song for people like us who are living far away from their loved ones.

Keep mailing. Your mail reminds us of R K. Narayan writing.

With Love

Uma
**********
Neeraja wrote on 30 Sep 2004.

Dear Appa,

A strong, thought-provoking, very nostalgic mail. And, equally nostalgic, thought-provoking replies.

Just last week, Ashok and I were talking to one of our neighbours - 79-yr old Sathyaraj uncle who told us that God had made all ppl equal by giving them all 24 hrs!!! So, its how we put it to use that matters.

Hmm, I guess the same applies to communication. Unless something is urgent, most of us generally keep putting away calling someone, writing to someone or mailing someone or even visiting someone. True, all of us have our things to do, jobs, work - at home and outside, a-million-different-things-to-do. And, at times it is difficult to find time to communicate. One wud rather just sit and relax for those few minutes and get back to whatever has to be done! I know, I do it. And, at such times, communication becomes secondary!

Now, for example, I read ur mail yesterday and I am able to reply only today. And, I feel like sending out long and thoughtful replies to long and thoughtful mails! I wasn_t able to send a longer reply to ur _Train No. 6010_ mail itself!!

There was a time a few years back when letters used to be the only way for me to keep in touch with my friends, uncles, aunts and cousins. I have also written letters to my parents and my brother. It seemed a better way of saying certain things. I love writing and I would almost always end up writing atleast 5-page letters. And, friends wud get longer letters. The only thing that I didn_t like was that I didn_t get equally long if not longer letters!!!! The rare long letters wud sometimes take half an hour to read!!! When my father got a transfer to Mysore from Bangalore, my friend and I wrote letters to each other frequently. When I visited her in Bangalore, our respective parents had a good laugh with the fact that the postal department seemed to be making a lot of revenue thanks to my friend and me!!!! Waiting for the 2:00 post was a routine part of life like Vasu anna and appa have mentioned!!!

My grandfather would write English letters once in a while in his tiny, neat handwriting. My grandmother, aunts would write to my parents in Tamil and my mother would read it to Prasanna and me later. I still have letters and cards sent by my uncles, aunts, cousins and friends! It feels very good to read them again and again after all this time.

Vijaya amma (to avoid confusion between ammas) has also told me that GRS pati used to write amazing letters. The letters would have information about everyone in the family and would not leave out even a single small information. Amazing, indeed!!!

I miss writing with a pen and paper. Not many ppl to write to, not that ppl wudnt like to get a letter. Email seems faster and it also _seems_ to always be there to send a mail, despite the maintenance shutdowns!!!

Maybe all these mails will start a trend of ppl writing letters to each other slowly_

Love,
Neeraja
*******

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