Heart to Heart

– Upasana Das

Do you remember the last time when you had pulled out a pen from your drawer to write a letter? Yes, I mean a letter with an ink pen on paper. A letter, in order to write which you had actually went out to buy a new writing pad or colored paper so that the loved one you are writing to would feel happy to smell a fresh, new parchment and relish the fragrance of your love penned down on that letter in your very own handwriting. Sad, but true; that form of communication is almost a thing of the past, a lost art in the museum of our memories.

Now we have text messages, cell phones and e-mails, which are making communication faster and easier no doubt, but then, does it carry the same emotion which a letter written in a sheet of paper with a pen would?

Most of you might argue that how does it matter whether a letter or message is written with a pen or typed and sent as an e-mail or text message as long as we care for the person and as long as the message is delivered. Well, I too agree that in this fast paced world, communication has to be faster and easier. But doesn’t it ever make you happy when you check your e-mail and you actually have a personal e-note from someone you care about that doesn’t have forward attached to the front of the title box? Doesn’t something about that make you feel cared for and you can’t wait to open and read it?

Even with all the greatest communication technologies today, that we could have only dreamt of twenty years ago, we have now become so much busier than before, self obsessed and negligent of our friends and family members than ever. If I take my example, juggling between two jobs and managing a work schedule of almost 14-15 hours a day I hardly have time to talk to my mom in spite of staying under the same roof. In fact, nowadays we mostly talk over the phone and so we are almost out of the habit of writing those small notes like before whenever I had to go out in my mom’s absence and vice versa. In spite of chatting with your friends or your siblings who stay in a different place over phone or social networking sites on a daily basis, don’t you feel touched to receive a letter or a card from the same person? I am sure most of you might be because technology can never beat human emotions.

I still remember how I used to wait eagerly for the postman to bring me the New Year greeting cards sent by my cousins from upper Assam and few even from outside the state who were there for academic purpose. Few cards were also accompanied with surprise gifts and small notes of encouragement and advice to do my studies properly and not to trouble my mom much. Oh! How I miss them. What makes it so special is I still have those timeless treasures. A delete button or crashed computer can never make them go away; I can hold them in my hands and relive those cherished memories over and over again. I might be sounding terribly sentimental, but I miss those days, I like the natural handwritten font on a piece of paper

I know we are trying to go green, but we can’t let our campaigns of saving the world make us too distracted and impersonal that we postpone investing time in memories and relationships.

Psychologists say that just looking at a clean sheet of paper fills you with hope because it represents the connection you are about to make! Often neurologists recommend letter writing to their patients to stimulate their brain and express their emotions, ensuring quicker healing and recovery.

So let us try, sending a physical letter of the heart to a friend or family member who hasn’t heard from us in a while, who knows it just might renew our friendship and ignite old flames of close kinship. Who knows, it might even bring back the smile on our own faces which had been lost amidst our busy schedule and never ending chores. Trust me, it just might!

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