Reliving nostalgia of writing & receiving hand-written letters

NASHIK: Sixty-year-old Rajani Shivdasani still recalls how the sight of a postman used to lift her spirits and she, along with her brothers, would rush out of their home running on hearing him call out their surname.
"During holidays, if we heard the postman's cycle bell ringing or saw him anywhere near our house, we used to run all the way up to him. A letter from anyone dear to us would make our day," she tells her grand-children, who are more adept in typing messages on the Qwerty keyboards or simply touch the screen to send texts to their friends and relatives.
"Our parents taught us how to write good letters in legible handwriting. It used to be an exciting exercise. The present generation is deprived of all this. I have stopped writing for the past two decades because of the telephone. But when I reminisce about my school and college days and want to share them with my childhood friends, I still write. This happens maybe once in four to five months," Rajani says.
On the other hand, the once-upon-a-time art form is now an "uncanny experience" for Class VII student Rohit Dashaputre. "I learnt writing letters for a competition organised by my school. It was uncanny," he sums up his generation's response to writing letters.
With a range of electronic modes of communication, from e-mails to cellphones and social networking sites, taking over, letters have no doubt become a rare commodity. Statistics available with the Nashik general post office only reveal the extent of the dent to the years of practice - a steep decline of 90% within a decade in terms of handling of handwritten letters.
The postal department has introduced several schemes and is in the process of launching more to counter these new-age communication methods.
GPO post master S R Phadke said, "These days, letters in general pertain to advertisements, annual meetings, government-related communication, bulk posting of journals, specific copies of some local newspapers and magazines. We do get a lot of wedding cards, particularly the heavy ones that cost around Rs 50-100 or more each. This has been the trend for the past five years. First-class mails like inland letters have also reduced. Earlier, bank reports also used to be sent through post but now it is done through e-mails. Monthly meetings by various organisations are printed on inlands even now and posted as it is affordable for them. An inland letter costs only Rs 2.50."
He added, "We also started World Net, a service that delivers parcels to the US within three days. We have tied up with an international courier company for this purpose. We have also introduced international money transfer through Finacle, the core banking solution of Infosys and we will start ATM facility very soon. After the State Bank of India, our post office bank is the biggest service provider. There are 1.55 lakh post offices across the country, even in rural and remotest corners. Postal life insurance for urban and rural people is a big task. We are also trying to tie up with some online service providers. We started e-payment for various university fees and for the state electricity board."
The GPO has introduced Wi-Fi connection for people to check emails while waiting. A special machine for stamping has been brought, and banking documents have resultantly gone up. Stamps and thematic envelopes are also being introduced to attract people.
With the world becoming more flat by the day, the postal department is sprucing up its services, lest the art form becomes a thing of the past. Till then, Rajani and her likes will think of writing "...A super-long letter, like in an old-fashioned novel"... to put it in the words of Haruki Muraka.