Today is World Letter Writing Day.
So, will the postal service shut down? This question is being raised nowadays. Apart from official letters and parcels, what other role will the postal service have? This question has become prominent in the age of the internet. Due to huge social networks like Facebook and Twitter, people are forgetting about handwritten letters. I myself have written thousands of letters. I had countless pen pals. I had a reputation as a letter writer. But now, I don’t write letters through the postal service anymore! Now, I spend most of my day on Facebook. It has even harmed my writing. Maybe one day, Facebook will lose its appeal. And maybe people will return to handwritten letters. The new generation doesn’t even know that people used to write letters by hand!
Why do people write letters? A letter is an expression of one’s individuality. People want to share their loneliness, feelings, and thoughts with others. They aim to impress others with their eloquent language. The charm of words endures. While many things change in the world over time, and the world advances, the age of high-tech has made the world a global village. Now, it’s the era of email, internet, and chat boxes. The high-tech world certainly has provided speed and pace, but for emotions, people still choose the postal service. Psychologists have researched and found that handwritten letters are still more emotionally appealing to people, both in writing and reading. Psychologists believe that while other mediums are more efficient for exchanging information, letters are still the most popular choice in the world for expressing emotions and building relationships.
Sometimes, letters become literary works. These literary works have immortalized many great writers. Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Chhinnapatra’ is a literary masterpiece. ‘Chhinnapatra’ is primarily a collection of letters that Rabindranath Tagore wrote to Indira Devi between 1887 and 1895. Rabindranath did not include many letters in ‘Chhinnapatra’. He omitted certain parts of many letters, considering them not suitable for public consumption. Many of these omitted letters and passages were found in the original two notebooks and published in 1960 as a book titled ‘Chhinnapatrabali’. In ‘Chhinnapatra’, Rabindranath wrote, “Those who are naturally inclined to talk, their mouths open at the slightest provocation… We constantly interact with the world around us in various ways. This cannot be broadcast through a loudspeaker. It can only retain its simplicity when confronted with familiar people in a crowd.” In letter number 67 of ‘Chhinnapatra’, he expressed his opinion on the publishability of the line, “At that time, I had emerged from somewhere in this new earth as a tree, flourishing with a new vitality.
Nazrul’s handwritten letters are still published in newspapers and magazines. The fourth volume of Nazrul Rachanaboli, published by Bangla Academy, contains fifty-six letters, each of which has literary value. Nazrul Islam wrote a poem titled “Mukti” which was published in the second issue of the second year of the Bengali Muslim Sahitya Patrika, a quarterly journal of the Bangiya Muslim Sahitya Samiti. After the publication of “Mukti,” Nazrul wrote a letter to the editor of the Bengali Muslim Sahitya Patrika. The letter was published in the weekly Sawgat almost ten years later.
The collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira is so rich in history that we often forget the main feature of this great book. The official name is ‘Glimpses of World History’. It was written in the form of a series of letters sent by the father to his daughter Indira during her confinement. But the appeal of this book transcends the individual and the contemporary, and it is so universal and timeless that one has to read these letters again and again. In these letters, Nehru lived as a neighbor to famous men and women of history in different times and ages. Somewhere, he has given life to the old skeleton with blood and flesh to understand the events of the past better.
Buddhadeb Guha’s epistolary novel, “Sabinoy Nibedon” (Humble Request), is an extraordinary work. A full-fledged and intriguing novel crafted solely through the exchange of letters is an unprecedented addition to the history of literature. This novel is not merely celebrated for its innovative form but also for its overall appeal. Letters have always held a special place in Buddhadeb Guha’s novels. The letters of Chhuti and Sukumar in “Ektu Ushnatar Jonno” (For a Little Warmth) or Prithvi and Kurchi in “Madhukari” can be mentioned. Buddhadeb Guha himself is a brilliant letter writer in his personal life. But in this novel, the epistolary storyteller seems to have surpassed himself.
The postmaster of Puri one day found several letters addressed to “Bhagaban/Jagannath Temple/Post Office Puri” in his office. The peon could not find anyone named Bhagaban. Out of curiosity, he hesitantly opened the envelopes and read the letters, which were written by a young boy named Ponu from Kolkata to God himself. Ponu fervently pleads with Bhagaban to solve his problems. At that time, Ponu could not spell Bengali words correctly. Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay has beautifully arranged these letters with their incorrect spellings in his book “Ponu’s Letters”. Readers of all ages equally enjoy the humor of these letters.
Yamini Roy’s letters are invaluable. Unlike others, she did not document her thoughts in any other written form. To understand Yamini Roy’s artistic spirit, one must know the person thoroughly. Letters are the only means to achieve that goal. Several of Yamini Roy’s letters to Buddhadeb Bose have been published. It is also impossible to complete the history of Rabindranath-Vijaychandra without the complete collection of Rabindranath’s letters to Vijaychandra. Kalidas Nag compiled four letters in the Prabasi magazine in 1350 BS. He did not write more than eight or nine letters. At the beginning, he wrote, “…she copied the letters that her daughter, the writer Suniti Devi, had preserved and sent them to us…
Dhurjati Prasad Mukhopadhyay (1895-1961) was a unique figure in the Bengali literary world in various ways. After reading the short story collection ‘Realist’, written by Promath Chaudhuri along with Dhurjati Prasad, Rabindranath Tagore wrote a long letter to him, which was published in ‘Parichay’, Baishakh 1341 issue. There is a close connection between literature and letters. Letters have played a huge role in world literature. Many writers have written letters to their loved ones at different times. In Bengali literature, Rabindranath Tagore has communicated the most through letters. Even today, his letters are published in newspapers, which proves the timeless appeal of letters.
In Bangladesh, Shahadat Chowdhury’s now-defunct weekly ‘Bichitra’ played a significant role in fostering communication and building relationships among young people. From the very beginning of ‘Bichitra’, the ‘Readers’ Page’ became popular. Through this section, a kind of communication was established among the readers. Then in 1979, when the ‘Personal Advertisement’ section started, it created a huge sensation. It could be called the chat box of that time. The section was no longer limited to a specific age group; it became a topic of correspondence or advertising for people of all ages.
