A letter to Nobody
I want to write a letter. To whom ? Nobody in particular, in fact, to tell the truth, I do not know whom to address this letter, and why am I writing. I just feel like writing, that's all it matters. Hey, wait, is that all ? If there is no recipient, if nobody is going to read the letter, why should it be written at all ?
I feel, some questions cannot be answered, may be, this is one such.
I remember my school teacher saying often, a letter should be "short and sweet". Well, nicely said, this is correct, if there is a reader. For a letter like mine, which nobody is going to read perhaps, no such rules or norms will apply. Or, if that teacherly statement is true, Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, the great Statesman and Politician, the revered intellectual, the architect of Modern India, must be a 'fool of the biggest order !'. When Nehru was is prison for a long time (as a political prisoner, of course !), he wrote a letter to his daughter Late Indira Gandhi, which was in due course, published in the form of a thick book called "The Discovery of India". Do you call a thick book 'a letter' written to a daughter byher father !? 'Discovery of India' is not short, nor is it sweet. It traces the 'so-far-unwritten-happenings'of Indian history, more in the form of a beautiful narration, and not at all in the style of a letter written by an affectionate father. No father, most assuredly, will subject his affectionate daughter to such a rigmarole exercise of going through a history book.
With the advent of computers, the habit of writing a letter by hand on paper has almost vanished from the urban scene in any part of the world. Perhaps, a very small percentage of humanity still lingers on to the beautiful act of writing letters on papers, and sending them by mail. In this present 'paper-less world', paper is not used for beautiful exercises like writing letters, sonnets or stories, but it is rampantly wasted for many acts like dry cleaning the butt after shitting !
I do not blame the present day people at all, who depend on computers extensively. I too started using the computer to a great extent, after I went through a bitter experience about ten years ago. I was translating some books from Tamil to Kannada, and as soon as one book was over, I was expected to send it to the publisher who was in another city. I was writing on paper, and once it happened so that I did not have sufficient time to make a photo copy of the 120 page manuscript (which was one book), and sent the original itself. Several days later, I came to know, to my misfortune, that the manuscript was lost somewhere in transit. There was no way of tracing the lost document, and I tell you it was not an pleasant job to write the whole book again, to save myself from the embarrassment of breach of contract.
After this experience, I took the advice of a good friend, and started using the computer extensively for such works. There is no risk of losing the original work, as it always remains in your PC, you give the concerned person either a hard copy or a soft one. Unless of course, the hard disc decides to crash. Even then, you could outsmart the PC with a back-up.
In my younger days, I was very fond of writing and receiving letters. A joy I have never experienced ever since, even when I received 50 letters on a single day through e-mail. No doubt, e-mail is convenient, almost free of charge, instantaneous, and doesn't occupy any space on your shelf. But could you ever compare it to the pure bliss of touching the same paper which was lovingly caressed, written on, acquired the heavenly scent, and dropped lovingly in the letter box by the sender ? The joy is almost equal to touching the sender, caressing the person, if not anything better. I even remember one friend sprinkling perfume on the letter, before enclosing it in a beautiful envelope. But of course, fortunately, she was not there to see how the postal department practically raped the lovingly decorated envelope with its black ink smears of the rubber stamp. May be I was secretly in love with her, and I am sure she would not have wasted all the perfume, if she had had a single 'jhalak' of my ugly face !
Come to think of it, I just cannot understand, what is a 'letter'. It is not just communication. It is not just exchange of pleasantries too. It is not long narrations of incidents or happenings. It is not just expression of love. It is not a long novel. Then, what is it ?
The dictionary says a 'letter' is 'written or printed communication', usually sent in an envelope by post. It also means precise terms of statement, like 'following the instructions to the letter'. "Letters" also means literature, as in 'a man of letters'. In addition to these, there are different occasions where the word takes prefixes and suffixes to make different meanings, like love letter, business letter, letter bomb, letter box, letter head, letter press etc.
Once when I wrote a letter to a business associate, which did not contain any form of usual, stiff, emotion-less, 'business like words', somebody told me that business correspondence should not sound like personal letters. I fail to understand why it shouldn't. After all, any business is run by human beings. Businesses are not run by machines. Though, now a days, quite a good percentage of businesses involve a substantial number of machines (mostly automated, I mean 'electronified'), the truth is, businesses cannot run on machines alone. At the most, they can aid smooth, convenient and extremely speedy running of businesses, but a human being should always be there to start or run a business. So, in the light of this fact, why shouldn't a businessman write a business letter like a personal one ? After all, it is going from one person to another. Even if somebody wants to argue with me, I would say that it is going from one office or an organization to another office or organization, both represented by people, in fact, in most of the cases, represented by a single person ! In my opinion, all letters should be written like personal letters, backed by a lot of emotion. Quite possibly, business letters get better response, if and when they are written in any way other than the usual 'business style' !
After all, business letters are written for evincing some kind of 'favorable response' from the recipient. In fact, most of the letters, either personal or business, are written for evincing favorable responses. (Here, what I mean by favorable response is, the kind of response we intend to receive - in some cases, it may sound 'favorable' or otherwise.) Perhaps, business letters are more 'strategic'. They are written with an intention to achieve a conducive business atmosphere wherein, the recipient will react in a manner, desired by the sender.
But, does it mean that personal letters cannot be 'strategic' ? All said and done, a person writes a letter with some intention, and will aspire for a situation where what he is expecting will happen. Even when a letter is written to inform somebody of a sorrowful news of one's death, there is a strategy behind it. I would rather say a purpose behind it, if I am allowed to replace the word 'strategy' with the word 'purpose'. After all, strategy is nothing but a plan to achieve the purpose. So, according to me, personal letters too are, to a great extent, strategic, and there is nothing wrong or shameful in making them so. In fact, even a 'love letter' is strategic !
This particular letterI am writing, which is addressed to nobody, also does have a strategy, doesn't it ?
In fact, I feel that the whole life of a human being is strategic. What is wrong if it is so ? Let there be strategies, let there be happiness and let the purposes be served !