Oops, I have owed Ivy a tag for more than a month now, and Mygreatbuds have been kicking my butt in the shoutbox, so I guess I better get going.
The topic came to my mind when I was driving (as with most things nowadays) to work one day. Remember those little A6 sized magazines that were sold every now and then in both SHS and SES? That's right folks, I'm talking about The Young Lasallian.
The little compact magazine was meant to update the La Salle students all over Malaysia and Singapore on the latest happenings in the La Salle schools.
One of sections that always caught my attention was the pen pals. Around Form 2, I finally got the courage to write to 2 of them (both girls, of course :P) One was in Taiping, and the other Semenyih. I later corresponded with another 2 pen pals (both girls as well, of course!) in Penang and Kuching.
Those were the days of non-instantaneous communication, where calling outstation cost a bomb and there was neither sms nor email.
So, we all used to look forward to going back home after school and checking our mail box to see whether another letter has dropped into it.
I remember the Taiping lady used to write long reflective letters about her life, while the others were more flippant and generally just shared about the latest happenings in their school lives.
After I went to college, the letters dried up, and when I reached uni, I lost touch with all of them.
But as I reflected on those letters that we exchanged, I am in a way quite struck by how profound some of those letters were. Those were the days of youthful idealism and great clarity of mind, unpolluted by cynicism and broken dreams. They were a snapshot of our minds, and reminded us of who we once really were.
12 comments:
What can I say Pat - pure nostalgia remembering the letters and cards we used to receive. And I had MANY.
And yes, the anticipation of seeing an enveloped addressed to me was always the highlight of reaching home from school.
For this year end, I'm going back to snail mail.
P/s Pat, anyone else to tag?
It is definitely a heart popping experience especially on the anxiety felt whilst waiting for the postman until I could differentiate the sound of the motorcycle coming without looking at it.
Progress of technology has definitely make thing easier....
At the boiling point, i felt of waiting at her house gate and get the letter directly from her... hahaha.....
What Pat - very touching ... I was an innocent boy ... 20 years ago but now I am trained in unarmed combat and can kill people with my bear hand... too late!!
Hi ! What to do? cari makan lah
Heroes, if you are already at the front gate, you don;t need to wait for the letter-hor.
Just move in and stay there-lor.
Well Pat, you are very good at rekindling our memories of our historic past. I had the luxury to correspond with my pen-friend from the Philippines (a "she" anyway) for more than 20 years since 1977 until I lost the email address when my computer hard disk went "kaput". That was 5 years ago. Today I am still trying to locate this friend of mine in the WWW. I visited her in Manila in the 90s. This trip gave a glimpse of the "Hua Chiao" in the Philippines. This is part of my snapshot of my yesteryears
Without blogging those days, I agree that writing letters to penpals was one of the most arousing moment.
I did write to one of my penpal in Kuching (a she definitely)...for about 2 years but never met or shake the hands though nearly meet at uni.
MGB, What do you mean by nearly meet at uni?
Ya loh, I agree with Jo. Either you met or didn't meet..."nearly" meet??? Gr8buds, kindly enlighten us.
I had a penpal from Teluk Intan. One. For my entire teenage life. Then I went to university and had few more.
Now I am making up for lost time.
It must have been mind boggling both of you Ivy/Jo....though you are considered masters...but this one give you a sleepless nap at least. hehehe
Well, I was supposed to meet my bro. Joe at UPM on one of the Saturday to attend the sunset mass but I didnt make it (where I usually hang out every forthnightly). Later, my bro told me that she was there as she was my bro's junior in the Vet faculty as you when I was much smaller...our faces look alike like urrr twins...she had thought that it was me...hehehe
So, isnt' it nearly meet but not met up..
MGB, if you are Hiro Nakamura, I am sure you could meet her there....:-)
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