We sent letters to each other, on the way we dropped it

BENGALURU: When was the last time you wrote a letter? A proper letter, on notepaper? Was it to your mobile service provider, notifying them that your address had changed? Or to some government organization or nationalized bank? Odds are that you wrote may be two

letters

in the past couple of years. Chances are that you didn’t write any.


But there was a time when letter-writing was both art and craft, and the number of books on good letter-writing that were published through the centuries is proof. An introduction from a 1920 book titled A Letter Book runs to 100 pages, and includes samples from Greece – a 4th century letter from Synessius, a neo-Platonic philosopher to

Hypatia

, his teacher, about his longing for her and his inability to come to her. And there’s this introduction to a book on

letter writing

by one Alexander M Candee, the “Advertising Manager, National Enameling and Stamping Co”, which begins with the following paragraph:

“A business representative must properly represent his house and its policy. He must help in the up-building of good will. Letters are business representatives. They should be so dressed and so written as properly to represent the sender. They can be a great help in creating and maintaining good will.”

There’s an 1876 book called “How to Write Letters: A Manual of Correspondence, A Manual of Correspondence, Showing the Correct Structure, Composition, Punctuation, Formalities, and Uses of the Various Kinds of Letters, Notes, and Cards”, which defines rules for writing letters. It’s by a man called Willis Westlake, who was a professor of English Literature. But since this was before the mobile phone - or even the landline, Westlake’s opening statement that “Nearly all the writing of most persons is in the form of letters; and yet in many of our schools this kind of composition is almost entirely neglected” is perfectly true.

What Westlake goes on to say about composing a letter still holds true - not just for letters, but for any form of writing. “Invention is the action of the mind that precedes writing. In all kinds of composition, there are two things necessary: first, to have something to say; second, to say it. Invention is finding something to say. It is the most difficult part of composition, as it is a purely intellectual process, requiring originality, talent, judgment, and information; while expression is to some extent a matter of mechanical detail, and subject to rules that can be easily understood and applied. A person can write out in a few weeks or months a work the invention of which requires the thought and labor of many years. Yet both parts of composition are equally essential. It is certainly a noble thing to have great thoughts, but without the power of expressing them the finest sentiments are unavailable. “

Of course, these are just curiosities today, when it’s the height of sophistication if you can make a Facebook post or a tweet that is both grammatical and spelt correctly. But there is a lot to be said about a handwritten letter - especially when the handwriting is neat, even if it isn’t roundhand or copperplate. There is a certain sensuousness in the act of putting pen to paper, to think of what we want to tell someone, and doing it in a way that combines elegance and conciseness. The author Stephen King called his

fountain pen

“the world’s finest word processor”. Writing long hand, he said slows you down, and makes you think more about each word.

There are, of course, people who believe that emails, Facebook posts or tweet threads will be the modern equivalent of letters and they may well be right. And while most education boards around the country are probably better off teaching better email etiquette to students, it would be difficult, given the speed at which language and its use change in the internet age. What may be a baingan emoji today maybe something else entirely tomorrow.

But here’s an idea. Take a sheet of paper - ruled or unruled, whichever works better. Take a fountain pen, fill it with ink. Then think of someone you love. They may be here with you, they may be in another city in India. They maybe abroad, it doesn’t matter. Write a letter. A neat, legible, letter without blots or scratches. Fold it, seal it, stamp it and post it.

Let me know if you get a response.


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