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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Writing my way in 2013...


Hello dear folks who noticed that I was not here over a month! Others who dint, miss me next time, okay? ;-)

2012 December was one incredible vacation. Details later, but I can tell you it was nothing less than pure bliss. Except the part that I suffered a splitting headache on Christmas eve, that I spent more time lying down on the back seat of the car , parked in the church premises with a toddler dancing on my head, when the choir happily sang, ‘Joy to the world!’. Sarcastic singers, I say.

Later December 16th happened. The wretched night of Delhi gang rape. The aftermath of riots, chaos, tears and ultimately her passing in glory to the land where rape is unknown. Been following all news and articles written on the same. However some people who blame women to have done the heinous crime of “provoking” men seems to be determined to show off the deepest low of stupidity they can stoop to. Honestly.

December 28th. It was our wedding anniversary. I celebrated it in Trivandrum, and hubby at Cochin. Well as per our schedule it was preplanned according to the layout of a larger plan. Well we live together and work at the same office all 365 days- being geographically separated on anniversary is not a big deal. All the other days are.

So recently I was filling out a few forms, and realized that with time, I am losing my ability to write. Writing my full name using a pen on a piece of paper has become so tedious that I am sure in a few years I will not be able to do it anymore. My son will grow up to call me illiterate. Or he will think I passed Engineering through online multiple choice exams. Did I answer those five essays, four pages each and 20 short answer questions all in three hours? I mean ideally I’d take a week to do that.

 My papa saves some handwritten letters of his father and his uncle. These are some of his invaluable possessions. Those words in custom handwriting speak a lot more than what Microsoft word does. Handwritten letters have that quality of intense personal communication, achieved by the handwriting, aroma and an invisible attribute which actually makes the reader feel that the sender is actually speaking just to him. These letters are also physically saved and read over the years, just for that aroma, handwriting and a personal touch, unlike the emails we archive and never read a second time. Also, a handwritten letter is usually unique. There are no copies, and it has a single receiver, unlike the Cc’s and worse, the BCc’s of standard email.  This makes it priceless. Letters written on paper with fountain pens are really memoirs, or little personal tokens of eternal worth.  I do not know how authors of today write. I know that JK Rowling writes in her Macbook Air. So the authors of the yesteryears must have taken so much effort to write those timeless classics. Imagine the passion which went into those books, when there was no google and availability for reference was scarce.

Every year, my employer gives me a diary and calendar in the first week of January, and I routinely donate it to my parents who have the habit of writing down expenses, recipes or important dates. This year, I am keeping it to myself, and will try to note down something on it. I will not write a summary of my day to day activities, but when I go to meetings I will carry this diary and a pen instead of my laptop. I will draw those instant pictures, or reinvent my signature or do something with it, but I will see to it that I use my fingers to write, and not just to type. My idea is to draft blog posts or write ideas for a short story in it, which may not be possible, but I am determined to use it. Well that is my resolution for 2013.

During my days with my parents last month, I spent some time in my room, which is still decorated with stickers and greeting cards from my teenage years. The handwritten Archies cards of the 90’s. One of them had a black and white picture of five little girls sitting on a wall, and the caption says ‘Friends like us paint the town red!’.  I lay on my bed and looked at the innumerable cards stuck on the walls. Those were the days. Even today I can identify the handwriting of each one of my friends. The personal letters written on the cards are still fresh and real. When was the last time I received or sent a card through post? I think it was a long time ago. My son will never know what birthday and Christmas cards were… or what it was worth. He is likely to think of it as a waste of time and paper. Oh I feel sorry for him; he will never experience the joy of a greeting card.

22 comments:

  1. Anita,

    Wish you both a Very Very Happy Anniversary. May you both have Many Many Years of Togetherness Full of LOVE, Happiness, Joys, Success and Peace. Yes, handwritten letters or greeting cards have own charm. I also have some very old letter in my kitty. Wish you all the best in keeping diary as planned. How are you keeping now, hope no more headaches?

    Take care

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  2. Good. I keep the old things, to remember the things of the past. Not only hand written letters but also your teeth before your teens. :). Aaron's baby hair is also being kept. And your baby shoes and dress !! :) :) :)
    Papa

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    1. Baby shoes, dress and Aaron's baby hair !! Priceless ! I have saved his first pair of shoes and dress as well.!

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  3. I think you have inspired me to write more personal notes. I hope you stick to your hand written notes/diary/thoughts.... Challenge: use all the ink in a pen this year.

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    1. I havent even written my name on it yet, because it is no brand new, and smells so good...I am scared that if I write my name I wouldnt use it like I planned the beautiful diary will be wasted... :-(

      Haha nice challenge...I always misplace pens and have to get new ones atleast twice every month. At such a pace this challenge doesnt stand a chance !

      Happy New Year GQ !

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  4. Totally agree on the writing part.. Even I was thinking I should write letters to my friends. . As far as the stories are concerned, many of my stories still start out as hand written drafts in my big diary. . I substitute the fountain pen with a gel pen. . The scratchy feeling you get when you write on a paper is indeed a special feeling. . You can see the words coming to life on the paper. . Since there is no backspace each word is pondered upon before writing. .
    Happy New Year!

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    1. I cant agree more... Its very very inspirational that you draft stories handwritten first...I really envy you for it. Happy New Year.!

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  5. Honestly, I dint know about your ann but felt good about it, that you have graduated by one more year in that relation. Wish you many more quality years.

    Second, it is first ever blog where I saw father's presence in comment section. Another good feel.

    I have kept many thing those seems useless or garbage to others but for me, well, I cant describe.


    Keep smiling.

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    1. Graduated another year in 'marriage'... not 'in that relation' :D hehe...

      Yes my parents are my support and reason behind why I started this blog.

      Happy New Year.

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  6. As i was reading your writing... lots of thoughts were coming in my mind. Fist of all, yesterday in class I faced a question about the Delhi incident,, i was was asked the question because i was an Indian. I fumbled to answer, it was really a shame, what country I'm representing??
    about letter, same things is at my home. my mother has still kept the letter my sister used to write from Mumbai in late 90s, in her early years in Mumbai.
    Happy new year..
    ...
    http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com/

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    1. Ohh Good to know. Letters are memories on paper. Happy New Year. Thanks for dropping in here :-)

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  7. Well I did come here a couple of times to see if there were any updates on your blog, so I did miss you :-)

    A Happy wedding anniversary(belated)!

    My mo has the letters from her father and father in law. They both are dead but they are still so much alive because of the words they wrote and thier neat clean handwiritng. My mom still wells up when she reads them. She also has a bunch of cards and letters from her sisters, for birthdays and new years sent to her when she was in Vizaq and they were in Bombay. Now what we have is just a facebook wish, and guess what I am not active on that, so I dont even have that! Really the online world has bought us all closer, but for what, ot make us sadder!

    I loved the topic of the post, and yeah for the new diary and your new resolution!

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    1. Thanks a ton for missing me ! Thanks again for the anniversary wish!

      Yes I love facebook for making me feel like my childhood friend at NY is living next door. However I dont like the fact that the comments on pics and birthday wishes are actually not heartfelt ones. It brought us closer, though. I dont think without that we would actually take pains to connect with school and college friends by writing them letters.

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  8. Just recently my son had a lesson in EVS regarding means of communication, and I did have a pretty tough time to get into his lil head, what are aerogrammes, inlands, postcards, stamps etc... Gone are the days where we had the joy of writing letters, sealing it and sticking it up with stamps (pretty excited were we to see the different beautiful stamps; not to mention the stamp collecting hobbies)... (sigh)... Post offices, postmen and postboxes cease to exist these days...

    Maybe we can make a difference by writing to our friends & relatives thro' mail post... What Say??!!

    Anita, thanks for bringing back nostalgic reminiscence of the joy of writing...

    Have a blessed year ahead!!! and keep posting :)

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    1. Yes you are absolutely right ... But I don't know whether I have the patience to actually write letters and post them...! Happy new year !

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  9. last diwali when i was with my parents, while i uncluttered my room, i stumbled upon 12-15 cards given by my school friends (on different occasions) a million years back and now eating dust .. it did brought back good old memories but finally i just let it go .. :-(

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  10. I second you…It happens.. Happy New Year :)

    love
    http://www.meghasarin.com

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  11. Oops.. I am reading this post very (and one more time, very) late! First of all, a very happy marriage anniversary (belated - mys mistake again) :D

    You mentioned a very valid point about writing.. We IT guys are losing it.. and losing it very quickly.. We are so habituated with typing now. Last month in Kerala, I was filling a form and realized the handwriting that's coming out isnt my handwriting! Mine wasn't good, but also wasn't this bad! :D

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    1. Cant agree more.! I have forgotten my handwriting as well..if I flip my record books and see my handwriting in it, I feel I wrote that in my previous life or something.

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