I read about you in the papers today; and i am glad to see that you are doing pretty well, have made a name for yourself. and grandpa is proud of u son !
it reminds me of my own days...how people waited with bated breath for my arrival. i felt quite like a hero ! how they rushed to me as the postman came to town - all trying to know who i belonged to. and the one who finally got me felt like he had just been crowned king !
i brought all kinds of news - but mostly good, a few worrying bits here n there perhaps, yes, and tears - i got to see those almost always....tears of joy, tears from missing the loved ones, tears of anxiety, tears of the unforeseen future...
your grandma, my darling telegram ! now she was more modern, sophisticate ! what airs she had ! would be worth so much more for a mouthful of words ! high maintenance you know ! but we got on pretty well...i told stories and she the breaking news, and between us the world was at peace.
until your dad was born - the email ( i still dont approve of that name ). so you see, until my time the messages were so personal. it went directly from one person's heart to the others, it had the special touch of one's own handwriting. it was meant for a very selective,exclusive audience. it oozed of patience,endeavour,tenderness and care. the very fact that it existed showed how much the reader meant to the writer - it was just so precious.
emails were personal to a point too. ofcourse you didnt have the writers own written word or the smell of the letter, but yes, it could reach heart to heart..until they started forwards...i may sound old fashioned here, but where is the love ? u get a mail, you click forward to a whole bunch of them, so where at any point do you ever think of any friend in particular ? ya,ya, i'll go n sit on my rocking chair, u kids...
and then there was your mom, she had so many names - orkut,facebook,friendster,flixster,bebo n what not...
she made your dad look lame...she had so much to say, had an opinion on everything and shared her life with hundreds of friends, some she had never even met ! but strangely, she carried on with the family tradition of making people stay in touch...she brought together long lost friends, rekindled love, reconciled and reconnected, made new friends,made bitching look a lot more trendy and in general,welcomed the whole world into her arms...
and then, one fine day, you were born ! the impatient,fast,ever-on-the-go-you ! your very first cry at birth was hailed as a tweet ! and boy ! did you become famous ! you have made tens of thousands of fans and followers who hang on to your every word ! you are the epitome of online existence ! everyone from the boy next door to his uncle and aunt, to the most popular of celebrities are hooked ! they just cant do without their daily fix of you ! so you get to shout out your mind in the minimum of words and compel the world to listen ! nothing is personal or exclusive any more. The more the merrier !
i have a feeling that my days are numbered...but i dont regret it. i have had my run, and it couldnt have been better. it was the most rich,fulfilling and quenching experience. i know also that whatever time i do have will be made special by people out there. people who know the value of me.
mothers who write to their children in far away lands...their emotions scribbled on paper, blurred by the tears they bleed..
star crossed lovers, for whom each alphabet on paper from their beloved accounts for every heart beat they would last...
students who write to elderly,oft-forgotten teachers, expressing their gratitude in emotions, not emoticons...
children writing to their grandparents, who will read and reread each word till their eyes hurt - from the reading, but also from the weeping...
soldiers,fighting for their nation, in solitary peaks outside the reach of technology, to loved ones left behind...
and to each reader, the feel, the touch, the smell, the love of every letter will be a treasure to cherish forever....
so i lie down here and rock back and forth in peace, knowing i have made a difference...
and good luck to you lad...as you keep tweeting away to glory !
