Waiting makes the letter more precious

 

Letters were once an important source of communication. It was crucial for both parents, relatives and even lovers. Many love stories behind letters. Current technology has made life easier but the thrill of waiting for someone special to send a long message would be far more precious. We also find our parents have letters that they still preserve. Those might be some ordinary words for us but they carry a lot of meaning and stories behind them. Letters exchanged among parents and children are also precious as it contains the love and longing they have for each other. 

The short story "The Letter" by Dhumaketu talks about a father waiting for a letter from his daughter. This short story is a translated work from Gujarati language. The writer whose real name is Gowrishankar Govardhan has published over twenty-four collections of short stories. He also wrote twenty-five historical novels and criticism essays.

This story is about a man named Ali who was a hunter later he left his old hunting life, but his daughter was married off to Punjab and for the next five years he went to the post office regularly waiting for his daughter's letter. Despite harsh weather conditions he went and waited patiently at the post office.  People made fun of him as he daily had to leave empty-handed but it never discouraged him. He had faith and he strongly believed that his daughter  would send him the letters and that kept him strong. He never got the letter when he was alive but still, there was a letter addressed to him.

There are two fathers mentioned in the short story. The one who never understood the pain of waiting in the beginning and made fun of Ali but towards the end he too had to wait for the letter from his daughter which led him to connect to the emotions of Ali. This short story shows the love of a father and the faith and trust he has in his child till the end.