Letters (Short Story by Esha Babla)

Sneha belonged to a family of writers. It started with her paternal grandparents who had worked as typists in the olden days. They were one of the very few who could read and write English, and were thus pursued relentlessly by the government for official jobs. Luckily for her grandmother, her grandfather understood the rights of women, even in those times, and let his wife work from home. She in turn was pursued by locals, who needed help in writing to their loved ones who were settled abroad. 

This became a family business, with her grandfather opening his own firm which eventually started a magazine that helped address problems written in by people. His two sons including Sneha’s father and one daughter, were all encouraged to study further. Sneha’s father and aunt did their journalism and soon enough joined their father’s business. Her uncle went to become a prominent editor for a Bollywood magazine. Sneha’s mother was a writer with her uncle’s magazine, working as an agony aunt, where she met her father and they fell in love.

Sneha took after both of them, and knew she just wanted to write. She joined a consultancy firm which helped create resumes, write business letters etc. She flourished on the job, and it’s there that she met her husband, Ashwin. They had an extraordinary love story, and Ashwin went out of his way to make sure his proposal to her was special. He’d written love letters, each speaking about an event in their relationship that made him fall deeper for her. A treasure hunt was set up to look for the letters, all hidden in places that were special to them. She also remembers how he had written his marriage vows in the form of a beautiful letter to her. This made her believe in happy endings. 

All throughout the first few years of their marriage, the couple would leave little letters for each other in various places like their lunch box, the bathroom mirror etc. So it was only fitting that when Sneha miscarried their baby, she would write a letter expressing her grief to Ashwin. Their communication was at its best through letters is what Sneha believed. So it seemed quite ironic when she came to know about Ashwin’s affair through a letter she received from his girlfriend. Ashwin continued with the tradition when he sent her divorce papers with a short, brief letter when he left her. Finally, Sneha knew what had to be done. Their marriage had started with a letter, so if it were to end, there would be a last letter. She took her time writing this very last one, with no hurry in her mind, before she jumped from the building terrace. Letters, after all, were how they communicated best. Their marriage would have then reached a full circle.