Love letters my thaththa wrote 75 years ago
As a child I was fun loving, always wanting some action and very inquisitive. I saw my mother (Amma) on several occasions going through some papers, taken out from an antique looking toffee box and rearranging them with a lot of care and with a smile on her face. I used to wonder what was inside the box and it did not take me long to discover that they were love letters written by my father (Thaththa).
As I grew up, I used to tease my parents about their love affair as so many had told me many interesting stories about them. Thaththa died in 1985 at the age of 77 and Amma died in 2009 at the age of 88.
Since Thatha’s death, Amma stayed with me and I had the greatest pleasure of looking after her. Amma used the bedroom downstairs. At the last stages she never went upstairs.
After Amma’s funeral was over I started putting the house in order. I went upstairs to the spare bedroom that was hardly used and I was surprised to see the familiar old toffee box right in the centre of the bed by itself. I knew it contained Thaththa’s love letters. I opened the lid very reluctantly and saw how they were neatly arranged. I took the box and held it against my chest and could not control my tears.
Amma who knew the Dhamma so well knew she had to let go everything sooner or later. But this precious treasure box of hers, when did she leave it on the bed? How did she go upstairs alone? What did she expect me to do with these letters? Did Amma want me to destroy them on behalf of her? Or did she want them to be preserved. I broke down sobbing, and kept on asking many a question which are still unanswered.
It took me some time to bring myself together. With a heavy heart, I walked to my room with the ‘treasure box’ clasped so close to my heart and placed it in my wardrobe. I asked several friends and relatives what I should do with the letters. Knowing how sentimental I am they felt that I should just leave them as they were.
The other side of the story is I had a late marriage, and it was a proposed one. We had a problem getting an auspicious day and so it was a rushed wedding. We had hardly any time to get to know each other leave aside writing love letters to each other.
After marriage my job kept me in Colombo and my husband was in his ancestral home in the village. He would phone me several times a day. One day I told him that he should write to me stating all the lovely things he said over the phone. I told him about Amma’s ‘treasure box’. He laughed about it and said who would want to sit and write long letters these days when one could so easily telephone.
He reminded me that during my parents’ time they were not lucky enough to have easy access to telephones. So I just kept quiet.
I am going on the 26th year of being a widow after having had only four and a half years of a happy married life. I have just a half page letter from my husband, that too a letter written on behalf of a friend where I had to attend to some work for the friend. Still I treasure that letter just as much as I treasure Amma’s antique toffee box.
Recently, while arranging my books I suddenly came across Patience Strong’s Thoughts from the quiet corner. I was so very happy to read the verse – Love letters. This is how it goes (see top right): I have read it a thousand times, and I wonder if many would feel the same way I feel….
Poems are generally said to be reflections of one’s imagination. But in this instance, I feel that it is the reflection of real life….that is mine!
Love Letters
In these days of telephones, Life moves at such
a rate – that letter-writing is a thing that’s almost
out of date …. But now we find our loved ones
are no longer within call – It’s come into its own
again… The sweetest thing of all.
It’s good to give expression to our thoughts
with pen and ink – So many in these modern
times have lost the power, and shrink – from writing
of their dreams and all the longings of the
heart. Making love on paper is a lost
but precious art.
The next best thing to kisses is a letter that
will fill – the empty hour with words designed to
charm and cheer and thrill… a term of sweet
endearment that evokes the bygone days – will
warm the heart – and bridge the distance with a
happy phrase.
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