‘Sir, post': when the words were music

When did you write your last letter to your loved ones? Can you remember? Oh! Most of you don't know how to write a letter?! Sorry. Go and look up your cupboard for that pretty old letters written by your loved ones. How beautiful it is to read! Rewind you to the past.
Those written on the letter are not just words but spontaneous emotions — feelings as ink and soul as pen, together designed as words. You remember the heartfelt moments forever. It's not like a message displayed on the mobile screen to be deleted. The words make a feathery touch on you when you read them.
How many varieties of letters have been written so far? Letters to the father, mother, brother, sister, friend, husband and wife. How many stories those letters have carried? They contain a welter of emotions — happiness, sadness, love, anger, frustrations and nobility and so on and so forth.
A decade ago, postmen were the heroes of every family. People were waiting for the letter or money order. “Sir, post” — the words made people react enthusiastically. While they read the letter, they felt the nearby presence of the writer. It makes them feel the same whenever they read it. Now, what's the condition of post offices in India? Most of them are ready to call it quits. Mobile phone communication, mailing through internet and the private courier services have contributed to their decline.
More than 40,000 post offices are now in the danger zone. Another information that jolts you is the announcement demanding tax for the savings in the post office. The post office must update its status to compete with the private courier services. In rural areas, even now people trust only the postal service. This is the right time for the government to introduce attractive schemes and facilities to woo back the people. If not, thousands of postal employees and the rural people will be affected.
Rural or urban, parents must encourage children to write letters because most graduates these days do not know how to write an official or formal letter. Hostellers can write letters to their parents or vice versa. Yes, you can talk whenever you want over the phone. But “the words from the heart are more powerful than the words from the mouth, ” as the saying goes.
Letters are meant not just for applications and requisitions; they are a symbol of aesthetic values. Take a paper and try to write a letter by exploring words from your deep heart and send them to your loved ones. See the beautiful response from them, cherish the moment. “Sir, post,” the call of postman will be honey to your ears.
(The writer is a lecturer in physics, PSN College of Engineering and Technology, Melathediyoor, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. His email is: nichelson.a@gmail.com)