Monday 14 July 2008

A-No-Title-Post


I thought and thought and thought .... What to write on blog today? Seems I've got nothing to share with you all. I started reading other blogs. Beautiful Muslimah has put a nice cream costume on her blog. I just stared at it, 'coz I'm sure I cannot wear it. My hubby will never allow it. There was some nice articles in Shuhaib Webb's too. I read Asad123's Nitrogen Cycle Poem, but didn't get the whole of it. Just understood its a nitrogen cycle, but I felt there may be something else in it that I didn't get. There wasn't any new posts in the other blogs, so I did not open them. There was not much to do at home, as my co-sis said she will do the cooking. I tried to concentrate on the cleaning, but I couldn't. So I thought I would come back to the blogging.
Hubby, me and my in-laws planned for a Umrah during August first week. But when we inquired the fee for stamping our visa, they said it was AED 500. Last year it was only AED 300 for a person. 500 per person meant 5*500 = 2500 in all. Return flight tickets costs
around AED 1000 for a single person, 'coz we have got ID tickets. So the sum get 7500. Food, room and other costs extra. So , we just dropped the plan. How can a normal family live on with such a high rise in prices? My MIL once said, when she joined as a school teacher in 70s, her basic salary could buy around 100 grams of gold. When she retired in 2003, with increased salary and other allowances, she could buy only around 10 grams of gold. Such a big difference within 30+ years! In 2006, when I came to Dubai, the rice ( palakkadan matta rice) cost only AED 2 per kilo. Now its AED 5.50! We eat it twice daily. Whose fault is this? Who should we blame? To whom should we complaint about this?
I was thinking about all of these when my Uncle, living near by, came to see me. He came from India yesterday. He had my mom's letter for me. I was glad to get it. I haven't seen anyone writing letters except me and my mom, and sometimes my brothers, Nawaz and Nasweef. My hubby and in-laws sometimes make fun of me, but there is that special letter bond between me and my family which is maintained through letters - and only through letters. There are so many things special about a letter, not found in emails or any other type of communication.


  • Letters always start with "Endearest" or at least a "dear' while emails start with a 'hi' and phone calls with a 'hello'.

  • The handwriting of our loved ones is so nice to see. Ok, I agree with you - the voice of our loved onces is also so nice to hear.

  • When you are on an international call, there is no time to go to the less important details. Letters bring you all the details aat home, however minute they are.

  • Letters end with a "loving,..." while emails usually end with "regards" and phone-calls with a "bye".

  • There will be many prayers to God, for me, in my mom's letter. She gets no time for that while on phone.

  • Letters will be written when you are free, and so i will be stuffed with the writer's love. You don't know when and where you are answering your phone to stuff your sentences with love.


There are many more reasons to which I love letters. I can read them again and again. I can keep it as a treasure in my personal drawer. I can kiss the letters, it gives a feeling of kissing the person who wrote the letter. I hold it near to my heart when I feel lonely, sad or nostalgic, it would bring an unknown strength. I had all the letters sent by my family and friends, till my marriage. I burnt it before my marriage, 'coz it contained the woes, tears, smiles, laughter, frights, romances, life and love of my friends, which i decided not to share with anyone else. But I still have got the little bits of papers we passed in our class, the cards sent by my friends and their presents. I value them more than anything. I have with me a seed of tamarind which a friend gave me when we departed from school. I haven't heard of her since, but I know she is thinking of me when I take the tamarind seed in my hand!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by and putting a link on your blog to me. My posts are usually not as nerdy as the Nitrogen poem.

    Letter-writing is a lost art. I recently started writing letters as part of the Adopt a US Soldier program. I feel like it's very therapeutic to get my thoughts out.

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  2. Mr. Asad,
    You are right about the letter writing art. Its a lost art although it brings a lot of joy and peace for the writer and the reader.
    And yeah, I like your blog very much.

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