GONE WITH THE WIND

Hello,

Good morning. Do you remember those days when you had to run to that expert friend to get a love letter written because you had to deliver it to your new girlfriend on her way back home that evening.

If you could remember any such event, I know how old you are now. You should be into your forties. Most of my secondary schooling years had been indelibly dotted with those thrilling moments of designing love letters for many of my buddies. 

One of my friends who was a school dropout got his marriage fixed with a girl from Gobichettipalayam. She was a graduate in interior designing from a reputed university and her English was immaculate. Desperate to marry her, my friend and his family lied to the girl's family that my friend was a graduate in English literature. The marriage was fixed and the girl wrote to her fiance a wonderful love letter and in its P.S. she said that she was dying to receive a letter from him. I could remember the year even. 1997. My friend had no clues about the letter's content and ran to me to know its finer aspects. It was one of the touching love letters I have ever read. All my friend could do in English is muttering some mono and disyllables with an unsure dose of diffidence. 

Now, he had to reply her. In English. I suggested that we all friends could assemble in Salem Castle, a famous star hotel in Salem at that point of time, and everyone could suggest a line of thought and I could ensemble them into an organic whole of his heart. Having agreed to that, he sent an SOS to our buddies and all of us congregated at the hotel and the letter was somehow coined at the cost of scores of whisky pegs followed by a lavish buffet. 

Nevertheless, the letter came out wonderfully. I wanted our friends to remember at least one line from the letters they wrote either to their wives or to those of others😜. 

The lady, his fiancee, received it the next day and was on cloud nine. His next visit to Gobichettipalayam was full of amorous adventures. Shameless and in unabashed candidness, he told us that she was kissing him the whole evening, completely gone mad over the letter she received.

We all wrote such letters, didn't we? I remember many of my letters. During the time I had to move out of Salem for higher studies, my letters to her were heavier as they carried my love, tears, anxieties and desperation. She would write letters in a maniacal drive. Hostel letter boxes never disappointed me. 

Those were the best of the times and the worst of the times. All are gone now and with those girls of wonderful decorum and grace went the culture of writing and receiving love letters.

These are the days of phone calls. No reliable evidence of love. Nothing is created to remember those Special Persons and special moments later.

Recently I chanced upon this letter given under. One Mr Manjil Saikia has written this. Evidently, to his ladylove. I had to remember my love letters and those beautiful girls who made my dreams so colorful. Adolescence is the best period of one's life and love letters are the best companions of those years.

I want you to read and enjoy Manjil's letter. This may appear too romantic and unrealistic. But remember, love is always romantic and unrealistic.

Thank you.
Love,
Dr M Prabhu.

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Do you remember?
-Manjil Saikia

Darling, do you remember the first time our lips met? The tension of the moment, and when they finally met I felt the moment should never end. Did you?

Darling, do you remember the kiss we shared under the stars? To me, it seemed like a thousand lights that were burning in my heart had somehow escaped into the heavens and smiled down upon us. At that moment, I felt the cosmic energy embalm us in its stead. Did you?

Darling, do you anticipate the moment when we will stand in the wind, your hair flying and I will gently put my lips on yours? I do.

Darling, do you dream about a day when you will lay in my arms, I will gently stroke your head and plant a kiss on your forehead, with all my love? I do.

That moment, that day is not far.