Open Letter - 8

Dear Society,

How are you? I am doing well and hope it is the same with you. I guess you are as eagerly looking forward to my letters as I am looking forward to writing them. I always had this wish to write letters to someone far out of reach and to wait for their reply which might take weeks, months or even years to come.

It must have been wonderful right, to write a letter, rewrite it, make corrections in it, prepare a fair copy to send, walk all the way to post office, post it and then keep waiting for a response for days together. Received letters get to be savoured like a long forgotten dish. Today’s instant communication has stolen all those savouries from our lives. Virtual communication travels across the globe within a fraction of a second. We can never lose contact in virtual world, but maintaining a stable relationship is as difficult as staying offline during a lockdown.

Strangers are met on social media yet a co-passenger in train cannot be trusted. You cannot find raised hands in a class room. You cannot find an iota of physical strain in a game zone. You do not need a Paanwala to direct you to an address. You do not need to haggle with an autowala to take you home on a rainy day because a thin yet durable Gorilla glass is intervening in your every conversation, be it personal or of national interest.

We have too many friends to find time to talk to. We have too many engagements to find time to think and ponder. We are always virtually connected to the world but are gradually getting physically disconnected. We do not need our mother to teach us her recipes. We do not need our father to train us in investing. We do not need to go to a trainer to guide our exercises. We do not meet our neighbours on the way to local grocery. If time permits, we can count the number of real encounters made in a day and I am pretty sure the number would be lesser than the number of fingers on my hand.

Are you wondering why I am continuously ranting about this lack of ‘real’ communication? Because the longer we stay online, the closer we are getting to loneliness and depression.

Dear society, can you believe that in this fast instantaneous round-the-clock connected world that we live in, there are individuals that find themselves isolated and left out? Research says we need to talk our mind out, share our anxiety and vent our feelings with someone. Isn’t it interesting that the world seems always talking on the go but not actually talking in its true sense?

Teenagers are dying out of anxiety and depression, able men and women are committing suicides every other day, pressure is building across all sections of life. It is turning out to be a Herculean task to find a good listener. A listener active in talking in all that one has to say and passive in passing away judgements and showering free advices. A listener as good as you are to me is all that we want.

Dear society, I must thank you from the depth of my heart for being such a passionate listener all this while. You shall never know how useful these letters have been in easing my anxiety levels. Now that I know you better, I can trust you in acting as a guardian and companion to my child. I ask you for nothing but an empathetic ear and a caring smile for my child.

I hope it is not too much of an asking, or is it?

Yours in anticipation,

An Expecting Mother.