Losing a Medium

Losing a medium:

Just six months back, I had a chance to visit my ancestral village. By chance I met the postman-cum-postmaster of that area. The old man was very worried about his post-office and he was blaming the telecom revolution and computer (probably e-mail) for it. He was complaining that no one writes a letter now-a-day and managing post-office is becoming a big loss making unit for the government. There was a proposal to close down the local post office and manage the area from somewhere else.

Well… I am not talking about any model village. It is one of the remotest and flood-affected with nearest approach road and bus stop 7 km from the village. But technological revolution has touched it certainly in some way. Getting the signal and charging the cell phone in electricity deprived area using innovative ways is altogether a different story.

Back to the main theme…Have we ever thought about the impact, both social and psychological, of the growing popularity and usage of new communication devices? I know one skill which ended in the wrong side of this revolution and facing a danger of extinction. It is letter-writing using a pen and pad. When did you last write a letter like that?

Many a psychologists believe that different form of expressions reveal different facets of a personality and at the same time at different degree. As an example just consider the difference between talking on phone and writing a mail. Do we express ourselves similarly using the two modes under same circumstances? Certainly not!!

So here we are… By leaving the habit of letter-writing, we have deprived ourselves with a form of expression which is strikingly different from others and certainly most important historically. There is a group of people, and I certainly belong to that cult, who believe that hand-written letters are more expressive and portray a truer picture than an e-mail. One probable reason could be the lack of ‘Backspace’ key. At first instance you may feel surprise and you can believe that it is inconsequential but just observe it for a few days and you will know the importance of it. So while typing on the keyboard gives us the luxury to re-access and rewrite, the same process is tedious when you are writing using a pen and paper. The result of this is the first hand and most authentic characterization of the writer when he/she is using a pen. The mistakes, cuttings and over-writings are no less significant than the actual text.

Many a time the same personal letters and diaries have become the authentic historical documents. I just wonder how we will pass this to future generations. How will they keep track of communications which concern the public figures and which will shape the future of the world? What about ordinary people? Are we going to deposit our mail folders to some place? Just remember the furore created in Europe and the whole world post World-War II, following the discovery of Diary of Anne Frank. Can any other document picture the true face of ‘Fascism’ better than the diary of that teenager?


Letters written by leaders like Gandhi and Nehru to other important political figures, own family members as well as common people carries with them the philosophy, ideals and vision of the man. At the same time Nehru’s letter to Lady Mountbatten and letters of similar nature create no less interest.

Now just imagine the importance of a hand written letter in our psychology and personal life. Can any other communicative medium match the feeling of getting a hand-written love-letter with few flower petals between the pages? And what about keeping that letter, under your pillow hiding it from the suspicious eyes of the world!!! While you wonder about this and compare it with present available medium e-mail, sms etc…, I just read a review about a book containing the letters of Gurudutt, one of the finest directors Hindi Cinema has produced. These letters will surely give the readers, the access to the psyche of that great person better than anything else.