Up until the late nineties, it was truly a joyous time- these last ten days of December, the first ten days of January, Valentine's Day, Diwali, and birthdays. We would wait anxiously for that time of the afternoon when Postman would ring the bell, drop the letters and be on his way before we could run to see who had received a card or a letter. It was exciting, to put it mildly, and the memory is still warm.
The envelopes- red, pink, lemon yellow, green, even a dull grey, white. even the blue inland envelope; to whom was it addressed; trying to guess the handwriting; then checking the stamp for date and place, and if it could be removed and reused; and then, irrespective of everything, taking our letter/ card to a quiet corner of the house, reading, smiling/ frowning/ laughing/ crying/ blushing/ getting angry- depending upon the contents; immediately penning down a reply, and contributing to country's economy by posting it as promptly. Archies' remained our most frequented shop until those late nineties! Ah! the charms of the good old days.
Now, frankly, since the e-cards came, the entire art of greeting has lost its warmth. In fact, as the year draws to a close, I am dreading it- no, not the new beginning but the deluge of WhatsApp messages, clogging of FB wall, mass emails, and jamming of the network because everyone is busy forwarding their New Year wishes.
There is no personalised thought, no real effort- someone else seems to read our mind, we tag our friends and share it/ forward it. How wow is that??? To compliment it, there is no desire to even 'save' these messages! In comparison, I still have cards and letters from my friends and family - which I regularly received until the birth of my first one (after that sadly, technology took over to a large extent), and sometimes I still read them; and they most definitely, take me down a certain memory lane.
This year, I started my own thing- I reverted back to the age-old custom of calling; actually calling friends and relatives on their special days instead of the e-thing. And I can tell you, even a 10 minutes (because it was long -distance) call made me feel more connected than an email, an ecard, a post on their wall, a Whatsapp or WeChat message, or anything in that sphere could ever do. However, given the fact that technology has certainly made staying connected easier and more affordable for everyone, I would be happy e-messaging as long as the same message is not meant for the entire world!
Personally, there are no new year resolutions, not yet, except this: I will not even open mass messages, forwarded videos, and such. May you find courage too!
The envelopes- red, pink, lemon yellow, green, even a dull grey, white. even the blue inland envelope; to whom was it addressed; trying to guess the handwriting; then checking the stamp for date and place, and if it could be removed and reused; and then, irrespective of everything, taking our letter/ card to a quiet corner of the house, reading, smiling/ frowning/ laughing/ crying/ blushing/ getting angry- depending upon the contents; immediately penning down a reply, and contributing to country's economy by posting it as promptly. Archies' remained our most frequented shop until those late nineties! Ah! the charms of the good old days.
Now, frankly, since the e-cards came, the entire art of greeting has lost its warmth. In fact, as the year draws to a close, I am dreading it- no, not the new beginning but the deluge of WhatsApp messages, clogging of FB wall, mass emails, and jamming of the network because everyone is busy forwarding their New Year wishes.
There is no personalised thought, no real effort- someone else seems to read our mind, we tag our friends and share it/ forward it. How wow is that??? To compliment it, there is no desire to even 'save' these messages! In comparison, I still have cards and letters from my friends and family - which I regularly received until the birth of my first one (after that sadly, technology took over to a large extent), and sometimes I still read them; and they most definitely, take me down a certain memory lane.
This year, I started my own thing- I reverted back to the age-old custom of calling; actually calling friends and relatives on their special days instead of the e-thing. And I can tell you, even a 10 minutes (because it was long -distance) call made me feel more connected than an email, an ecard, a post on their wall, a Whatsapp or WeChat message, or anything in that sphere could ever do. However, given the fact that technology has certainly made staying connected easier and more affordable for everyone, I would be happy e-messaging as long as the same message is not meant for the entire world!
Personally, there are no new year resolutions, not yet, except this: I will not even open mass messages, forwarded videos, and such. May you find courage too!
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These observations are my point of view of the life, as I see it. This blog does not intend to hurt, rationalise, judge, ridicule, or in any way offend anyone at all...it is only a way of sharing my own observations...so, please take it in the right spirit....thanks.