Letters

I’ve always wanted to have a pen pal. I love to write letters to people and I absolutely love receiving them. The idea of having someone, somewhere writing to you, whom you’ve never met or seen before is just so deliciously tempting. My parents grew up having pen pals and their stories make me jealous. Today, when everyone has an email id, no one wants to sit down and put a pen to paper. It’s just sad, really. It’s so exciting to get something in the post! And I’d think it would be just as exciting for someone else receiving one I wrote them. (Or at least surprising) But then again, it’s almost impossible to get anyone to write you a handwritten letter. In fact, very few take the trouble to email, let alone write a real one down. 

There’s something special about a handwritten letter. It has a lot more heart to it.  It makes you feel like you matter enough to that person for them to write to you.  Also, it’s fun! When you send someone an email, you know that it’s been sent immediately and that that someone may read it just 10 mins after you’ve sent it. So you take it for granted that they’d reply right away and there’s no waiting involved. There’s no real novelty to it. But when you post a letter to someone, you know it will take a few days to get there, another day or so for that person to reply and then another few for you to receive your reply. All in all, around a week. The anticipation of that reply just makes you appreciate it that much more. It becomes the highlight of your day. 

 

A book I like to read off and on is one called 84 Charing Crossroads. It’s a collection of letters sent back and forth between Helene Hanff, an American scriptwriter and the people of a bookstore, Marks and Co. in London. They corresponded for many years before even seeing a photograph of each other. The writing is so witty and it’s fascinating to see the contrast in characters of those writing. Helene Hanff- an informal, satirical, eccentric writer. Frank Doel (one of Marks and Co. who wrote extensively to her)- a more formal, courteous and pleasantly humourous writer. The correspondence between Helene and the bookshop was primarily business, as she asked them for books and they’d send them to her(with an invoice, of course.) But the lovely friendships that came of it and the joy they brought into each others’ lives with their letters makes me wish I had someone to write to all the more. 

I’ve often wondered how and where to find a pen pal. Is there someone out there who longs for the same, old-school correspondence with another unknown someone? If so, I’d like to find that someone. Yes, I would.