Wednesday 18 September 2013

Chitti aayi hai..aayi hai..Chitti aayi hai..


Chitti aayi hai..aayi hai..Chitti aayi hai.. - these words from Pankaj Udhas' songs express the feelings of a person receiving a letter. Sounds quite unusual to us, right? I mean most of us would wonder, why ever was there this much hype about a "letter"? Today's world is technology driven, we've got mobile phones/telephones and e-mails to get in touch with our friends and relatives, who needs letters? Having said that, ask someone who has lived in the age of "non-mobiles and computers" and you'd know how much of an importance a letter held with itself.

Now, I've not been a part of that generation. I believe I would be around 2 years old when I started playing games on mobile, funny as it sounds, it's a fact. My 8 months old nephew has already started "working on laptop" and don't get any ideas, when no one's around, he starts typing on the laptop. (:p) It's clearly understood that he's very inclined to know what this "technology" is and at the mere age of 8 months, it's remarkable how curious he is. Today's generation is incredibly intelligent and technology driven from a very young age.

Coming back to the topic of letters; I have never wrote a letter myself because there has never been the need. I can just sms my friends/family or e-mail them if I want to get in touch with them. However, up until just a few years back, in the late 1980's too, people wrote letters and very frequently. I quote my father "the anxiety that was felt after writing a letter and waiting for the reader to receive it and write back is incomparable, the age of technology can never take over such emotions".

My father wrote letters to his father (my grandfather) who lived in Mumbai because of his work. My father wrote letters every week and sent them to my grandfather, who wrote back every week. A letter took about 1 week or so to be received and during this period, as I mentioned earlier, the wait was irresistible but once the letter did arrive, what followed next was a roller-coaster of emotions, we can imagine that, can't we! :)

In case of emergency, telegrams were sent which took very less time comparatively to the letters, it's very sad that this service was recently stopped. We cannot blame anyone for this though, in the world of technology, where an e-mail takes less than a minute to reach the receiver and so does a SMS, one doesn't really need telegram. Whether rich or poor, most of the families own at least 1 mobile and that's the crux of today's life.

I'm a technology freak but yet, I have this desire in me to somehow understand how it was to wait for a letter, what feelings one felt while reading a letter, how all this worked - I mean, for today's technology driven generation, I/we are even fascinated by "letters" which are no more used, unless for a few purposes. Those times were drastically different.. I'd love to know your views regarding this.. Do share if you have any such stories to share.. :)
Aditya Jha Author

Aditya Jha is 20 years old and has had a passion for writing since a young age. He has had the great honor of being published in the book "blank space", which featured his fictional short story "a writer's tale". He has also published 2 ebooks - Best.Generation.Ever. and An Iron Lady (Autobiography on his grandmother's life). He has great passion for speaking and is a Delhi University Debator - having won various laurels for his speaking.

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