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60-year-old Benedict Thyagarajan,who wrote his first letter when he was just 13,says,“I remember it was a hand-written letter about the massacre of hundreds of children that happened in Iran in early 80’s. As a child I was really hurt by such barbaric acts of cruelty by Ayotollah Khomeini,so I wrote this letter to a newspaper expressing my emotions.” Since then,every time he comes across an issue about which he feels from heart,he writes a letter to either newspapers or magazines. Infact,so much was his passion that he bought a typewriter in the year 1970 which made letter-writing more convenient for him. “Of course these days I email them,” he adds. Around six months back he wrote various letters to railway authorities in Pune as well as to Railway Ministry regarding the lack of cleanliness in the toilets of trains.

Another such letter-writer is a young student Nimish Arvind Gokhale who mainly prefers to write letters concerning traffic and traffic signals. He also has a record of all the letters he has written until now. “Most of my letters are about non-functional traffic signals in the city,” says the 24-year-old who claims that many of his letters has got the concerned authorities into action. “For instance around a month ago I wrote a letter about a non-operational traffic signal near Sharda Centre,Padmavati Chowk,and it was repaired within a few days.” Gokhale,who ihas completed his MBA and is now pursuing a course in travel and tourism,believes that by writing letters he is contributing his bit to the society.

While Gokhale chose traffic as a topic for his letters,retired army officer Maj Mathew Oommen’s letters and articles are mainly on the bureaucracy and corruption. Besides newspapers and magazines,he also writes letters to senior authorities and officials depending upon the issue. Into letter-writing since 2005,Oommen very recently wrote a few letters to some officials regarding government land being occupied illegally. About the future topics of his letters,he says,“I would like to write about the call girl racket in the city. So many newspapers are filled with the advertisements of massage parlours,which apparently are into prostitution.” Apart from writing,Oommen regularly chats with other letter writers too,exchanging ideas and taking feedback about each other’s letters.

Although the subject of the letters and their writing styles may differ but all these letter-writers unanimously feel that letter is a medium that creates awareness amongst the masses about several issues concerning the common man and the society. “I never crosscheck whether my letter is appeared or not; I just write it,mail it and forget about it,” says Thyagarajan.