The dying art of letter writing

Not long ago, written messages were the most revered means of communication between people separated by distances. It was the most reliable way of keeping touch. Before the advent of mobile phones, people used to wait for a letter sent by friends from different places and these were often dropped in landmark areas like shops or pharmacies as door-to-door delivery wasn’t an option then. Letter writing on paper as a form of communication has been greatly threatened as time progressed. But while everyone has been busy of moving on to the digital era,  Khadija al Mashaikhi, a 20-year-old biomedical student at Sultan Qaboos University, has been holding on to the letter-writing not only because of nostalgia but also because she enjoys ‘pen to paper,’ well-worded thoughts written before it’s delivered. For Khadija, writing a few written lines is not how to do it. Just like in the time past, for her, it’s communicating well both thoughts and feelings so that the person at the receiving end will understand what was being communicated. “I consider letter writing now as an art where you pour in a stack of emotions befitting the receiver. For me, a letter is also personalised. I love the process of decorating the envelopes and making the other person knows through nuances in the letter that it came from me,” Khadija shared. “I’d been writing letters since my younger days. In school, we used to exchanged paper messages along with DIY small crafts. It was only recently that I discovered that there is a world out there dedicated for exchanging paper correspondence they called Penpalling,” she shared. Over time, she learned a lot about the art of letters including the tools used. She decided to embark on a challenge of writing 100 paper letters sending it to people who meant something to her. She didn’t realise that the small movement she started will pick up online. From her challenge, a lot of written letters enthusiasts joined her on the challenge and became a hashtag community on Twitter. The popularity of her project pushed her to continue and think of other means to re-introduce letter writing to young people. Her plans include introducing the art of writing paper messages more broadly through more workshops, and she is also interested in starting a business for arts and handicrafts of all kinds. Aziza al Ramahi, a 19-year-old student, is also a fan of making paper letters. She believes that the impact of receiving a concrete paper message has a different and distinctive effect on the feeling compared to a message you may receive via your mobile phone in milliseconds.”The speed of this world sometimes frightens me. I find comfort in letter writing. It is reassuring that while everything around us changes so fast, there are still a few things we can hold on to,” she shared. Although getting the outside appearance right is important to Aziza, she shared that all the embellishments fall in comparison to the content of the letter. She said that as an artist, it is fun to decorate the envelopes with stickers and other things like dried leaves or flowers.”The letter becomes even more personalised with these little trinkets,” she said. For Aziza, receiving a paper message is unmatched. “I meditate on the details of the messages I receive. They make me take a moment to pause and centre my attention on something tangible, reassuring. It’s amazing to be able to imagine the amount of effort made as well as what the writer is implying. I really like to be able to touch the letters and savour the moment,” she said. “I hope people will rediscover the joys of writing paper messages. While its existence is threatened now, there is still hope that it can be revived. I hope that people will feel the splendour of this art and I hope it will be given a chance to live again,” she said. BY RUQAYA AL KINDI