Handwritten Hopes
Photo: Karan Madhok
Under the isolation and layers of stress brought upon by the pandemic, many are turning to the old comfort of personal letters—handwritten and otherwise—to find hope, solace, and connection.
Like it had for a large number of people, the pandemic ruptured much of Mushfiq Sarfaraz Yasin’s future plans and career aspirations. The 29-year-old engineer worked in aviation sector, one of the worst-hit from COVID-related shutdowns. Last spring, Yasin resigned from his job in Gurgaon after he receiving an offer from a Bengaluru-based company, but his employer at that time did not let him serve the notice period. Unable to join the new company in time, he felt betrayed by his previous employer, for whom he had worked for six years—even, at times putting together nonstop 24-hour shifts.
Yasin recalls that period now, feeling stuck in his life, away from his family, with no job in hand. He told me that he had no salary to pay his rent and lived in fear of the new company revoking the offer during the lockdown, which made him feel even more anxious and uncertain about his future.
One fine day, however, he received four different emails from four complete strangers.
“Each letter was different but they were all reassuring,” Yasin told me. “These letters, even though they were sent by strangers, felt deeply personal. I felt I had received letters from someone I knew for a long time. It gave me hope, all of a sudden. They were not condescending at all. They said how they could relate to my situation and how all of us are in it together.
“I responded back to each email I received.”
One of the letters that Yasin received was written by someone who was going through the same difficult phase in life as him. It made him feel reassured. “There was an instant connection. I thanked her and said that she wasn’t alone in this, either.”
The letters were sent to Yasin on a request by his close friend by the volunteers of The Goodwill Tribe. The TGT is an initiative that aims to bring people together in an experience designed for human connection and compassion. Earlier last year, TGT started a project called ‘Letters in the time of Corona’, during the first outbreak of the pandemic, as an initiative to send anonymous letters of hope and encouragement to those who were going through difficult times. The TGT team claims to have sent 800 letters to people in 22 countries in six weeks for their first series. The second series of their project which took place throughout the month of June—Letters in the time of Corona 2.0—was dedicated to frontline workers.
One of the letters that Yasin received was written by someone who was going through the same difficult phase in life as him. It made him feel reassured. “There was an instant connection,” he says. “I felt the urge to acknowledge her, too. I thanked them and said they are not alone in this either.”
Yasin recalls receiving a handwritten letter, scanned and sent to him, filled with smileys. He says he was thrilled particularly because it was the first handwritten letter that he had received in around 20 years, the last being a letter his father had sent him from the Gulf when Yasin was in college. He doesn’t have that old letter from his father in his possession anymore, but Yasin says that he still remembers his father’s handwriting. He does have another letter received in college, sent by a friend who considered him her sibling—a handwritten note that came with a rakhi.
The content and emotion of the letter matter more, says Yasin, then the median, but the handwritten one always stood out, as it felt, “more authentic, genuine and closer to heart”.
These handwritten letters, so common until the late 90s or early 2000s, now feel, as Yasin puts it, ‘exotic’. Being the 90s kid myself, I too remember receiving and writing letters to my grandmother during vacations. It was one of the ways in which my mother taught my brother and I to read and write our mother tongue, Malayalam. I remember how my brother once misread what she had written and we all had a good laugh about it.
Those were the days of inland letters and post cards. We would stick the ₹5 stamp and eagerly go to put the letter in the post box. The wait to receive a reply eagerly kept us pumped up. It made us feel like there is something to look forward to, something nice and hopeful.
When I broke the news to my school friends that I’d be moving from Pondicherry to Kolkata after my father was transferred at work, one of my closest friends at the time—Gayathri—gave me an envelope with a four-page long handwritten letter to me. She asked me to read it only after I returned home that day
I remember it being the longest day, when I itched to return home, read the letter, and put my cat-like curiosity to rest.
That was the last handwritten letter I received. I still keep it safe with me, and I read it once a while when I feel low. It’s a gift of nostalgia. I wish for times to be as simple as they once were again, like that innocent connection of youth.
As time passed and technology progressed, we moved from handwritten letters to chatting on Yahoo! messenger, finding old friends and pen pals on Orkut, and then writing long emails to school friends when everyone moved on to do their graduation in different parts of the country. It’s true that, as Yasin says, the medium does not really matter much when you receive a personal letter. My friends and I would exchange long emails where we would write anything that comes to our mind and it just felt like we are talking to each other face to face. The innocence of that childhood friendship was not lost, even though we were miles apart.
But those times have long past, too, so long ago that the letters cannot even be found in my inbox anymore due to limited storage-space issues. Fortunately, there are now more options to save these personal letters in electronic form. unlike handwritten ones on paper, which can disintegrate over a period of time. The irony is that the act of receiving personal letters in any form has become rarer. One’s inbox is only bombarded with official communication, emails from HRs, and some spam marketing emails.
Handwritten letters, or even a personal email to a friend or family, have quickly become a thing of the past. In the digital era, it is all about staying in touch by forwarding funny videos and memes on Instagram and occasional messages and birthday wishes on WhatsApp. However, the lockdown did help me connect with my school friends again, at least over phone calls. During these uncertain times, talking to them late into midnight was reassuring, and it gave me a sense of some certainty and familiarity.
For someone like me, who is unhappy to spend even a single day all at home, this connection and familiarity helped bring some sanity during the months of lockdown. Like Yasin said, it’s not the medium but the personal connection that truly matters. Nothing can cheer one up like the occasional letter or phone call, something to let you know that there is someone out there, thinking about you.
Yes, Yasin is planning to start writing letters to his friends and family again—and so am I.
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Akhila Damodaran is a freelance journalist, content writer and travel blogger based out of Bengaluru. She has about six years of experience in journalism, covering civic issues, education, health, history, food, art and culture, travel and more for national dailies including the The New Indian Express. You can find her on Twitter: @akhila_damodar and Instagram: @akhi_india.
