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Chitthi Aayi He.....

On a recent visit to my in-laws place, my FIL had bought down a file in which he had religiously stored the letters sent by his mother decades ago. My hubbs grandmother(from his father's side) had expired long before we got married...so thou I have heard people singing praises of her generosity, intelligence I could never relate to her. But this time as I read those letters I discovered a selfless, brave, practical woman....... a firm mother who advices her son to mend his ways so that he is no trouble to his wife (Her DIL), a warm n affectionate MIL who doesn’t differentiate between her Daughter n Daughter-in-Law, who believes that the maids should be given a weekly off (like any other profession)! N the thing tht impressed me the most??? The pride with which she signed each of her letter as "Mrs.P.N.Menon"..... A simple act but doesnt it show how proud she was of her husband...This is saying something considering her husbad was dead decades ago!!


But \ this post isn’t abt her...its abt the beauty of letters! The emotions that a letter brings about can it be bought out in am email?? Coming to that when was the last time we wrote down a lengthy email to your family\friend ...isnt it much easier to pick up your mobile or hop onto skype n talk for ages!! Yeap it makes the communication easier...we need not wait for ages to pass a news around! Can a email replace the good old inland letter? Well for all practical purposes it has but wht abt emotional purposes..... How many of us would preserve these emails?? Once read n replied staright they go into trash box..... n with it goes the memmories!! My mom still has the first letter tht dad had written to her.....A wonderful n invaluable relic isnt it!! Do I have the first email hubbs has written to me????


Today when my dad is no more all the memories tht I hv is all in my mind n may be a few pics! Isn’t it sad tht my child will never have a chance of knowing him better! Sad considering what a beautiful writer my dad was!


The best find in the lot of letters my FIL preserved...A letter written to my FIL on the eve of his marriage by his mother.......!!Imagine 40 years down the line when am well into my 60's...what bliss it would be to sit down n read a letter tht my dad had written to me on my graduation or wedding eve........ooph tht would be some trip down the memory line! Sad isn’t it tht we are depriving ourselves of these small pleasures in life!!



Here is bidding a sad good bye to our very beloved Inland Letter

N as with all things our own bollywood songs - Chitti Aayi He, sandesha aate hai capture the spirit of chitti beautifully.....
PS: The smart husband of mine reads the blog n here is his comment "Gmail is gonna replace your inalnd letter soon"......hmph Mr.Hubbs I dont think so......lets imagine the remotest of possibilities tht u dont delete mails(like tht is possible) would u share ur password with gen-next for them to read n relish the mails(Fat chance tht considering he doesnt share it even with me)!!

2 comments:

  1. I would not share my password, but I can take a printout and get them to read old style!!! :)

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  2. Oh what a lovely post Meena :)

    I so agree, letters r special in their own way and the way u can pour ur heart out in them I don't feel we cn do it over any other media! Ofcourse, its been a long long time since I have written one :( The phone, internet have all made us so lazy no!

    Sweet li'l joys! Sigh!

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