Random Ramblings of a Reluctant Blogger

It stood there, sidelined as it were from the pacy world. But it stood firm, pride intact, and in good condition too. The Red post box, from where the snail mail starts its journey,  looked to be in use too as the clearance time suggested. Made me wonder how many use it these days of instant messaging, short forms, emojis and the almost disappearing art of letter writing.

The iconic Red box was to a letter writer as romantic a sight as any. Watching the postman pick up letters and replacing the next clearance time was in itself a joyous passtime for us kids. Some boxes would fill up fast, at times even up to the brim and some not so, depending maybe, on the letter writers staying nearby.

There were many who believed a prompt reply was the order of the day. There were others who took their own time to reply and some who never replied.! They, of course, had a readymade scapegoat, the Postal service.

And waiting for a reply was as agonising as not seeing a blue tick on your whatsapp message. 

Sending a postcard was a facebook post turned to public. Anyone handling it would know the contents, whereas an inland letter was a whatsapp personal message and the envelope, an encrypted email. Hackers? Oh yes, they were there too. Expert who would open an envelope and close it after reading the contents. And at times parents employed an ethical hacker too, especially if they wanted to know what their daughter was up to! However, unlike these days of instant replies, mails took their time. There have been legendary stories of a letter arriving far well past by its expiry date! Disseminating family news apart, the letter was a way to see beyond your world through pen friends. Not in the least instant _ like today’s ways of finding a friend through various apps _ pen friendship had its own charm and disappointments. Newspapers in India and abroad used to carry a column advertising those seeking pen friends. Many replies and application letters to various papers later, one would get a response. And when one got in touch with the right person, it was a rewarding one. As in online dating, in some cases romance blossomed between pen friends, but most of the long-distance friendship failed to weather the passage of time.  

The offshoot of these pen friends was that it turned many into amateur philatelists. Friends from different countries meant different stamps and soon you were a stamp collector.  Like with many fads the interest waned as fast and only a few graduated into serious philatelists.

The Post box, a sort of a  sutradhar, kept families and friends connected. Many tales of joy, love, longings, complaints, reconciliations and just gossip have passed through it. But how long will it fight on? The march of the time, surely, would place the relic in a museum one day. And till then it stands firm.