Paper and ink from decades ago

I often find myself calling hoarders "hoarders". It's only when it came to spring-cleaning my own cupboards that I realized just how many things I myself have accumulated over the years.

Once you attach sentiments and feelings to things, it becomes that much harder to dispose of them; and that much easier to just put it back thinking "I can't get rid of this!".

In the last half day, I skimmed through 3 shoe boxes worth of letters and cards. I seem to have retained every birthday card I received since 1987. One that I have treasured the most is this adorable little pink card from my grandma. It has a drawing of a fluffy brown kitten sitting in a cane basket on the front, and she sent it in 1988.

And then there are the letters.
My oh my, the letters!

The single largest number of letters were from my classmate Amila. We used to write constantly to each other during the school holidays. Prabodha and Erandi feature prominently in the letter count as well. Then there are the girls who migrated early on....Dasuni, Gowri and Dhasha have penned a number of neat and tidy letters my way. I remembered all this; but what came as a pleasant surprise was the sheer number of letters I'd received from Saumya.
Samanthi hasn't sent me a single letter; which is odd...given that she was and still remains my best friend. But boy are there are a lot of no-reason cards from her! Many of these letters and cards have played on my then obsession with Elvis.
And then there were a few random letters from male friends and acquaintances. Interesting characters some; others whom I struggled to shake off. And a few, like Maneesha, who are still in touch though far across the seas.

Shankari is a girl I met and became very close to during a holiday in Singapore, way back in 1993. Every single letter that I had received from her was in a neat pile. It was interesting to see the change in her writing through the years from then, until 2005. Then came e-mail. It killed the need to write and post letters.
Darn it.

We all seem to have liked fancy stationary. But would often settle for scrawls on an old foolscap paper, or a sheet of paper ripped out of an old exercise book. Be it square rule, or single rule or even completely blank, Amila for instance, had written to me on all kinds of paper. There is a delightful mix of languages and scripts, and differing colours of pens and pencils used. My friends from abroad wrote in small, neat letters, and have covered every last inch of the paper (front and back) to minimize wastage.
It also looks to me as though we've all used old stationary discarded by our parents and elder siblings. As further cost cutting measures, we've used aerogrammes and stamped envelopes. Do these things still exist??

I miss those days.
Today's communication may be fast and easy, but it lacks the character and longevity of the good old pen and paper method.
I'm sure the change in handwriting, in contexts and contents are all reflective of how each of our personalities changed over time. My first letter from Shankari was neatly written on a sheet of pink Japanese stationary; the last letter from her is a hurridly scrawled half sheet where the words are far apart, and the letters were skinny and long.

But unfortunately, I don't have the time to read them anymore. I have retained a few very special ones, but have chosen to discard the bulk of it. Why? Because I can't see myself ever having the time to sit and read those again. It then simply boils down to being clutter; and I really need to declutter my house some more.

Two things I will retain though. All the birthday cards I've received, I am unable to throw away. What the heck, I'll hoard that a little longer.

And I've started a new stash. I am now hoarding the birthday cards that my daughter receives too!