Letters from home - or not

I was looking through some papers, intending to clear some of them, when I came across a file that contained papers and documents dating to my time in Mumbai.

I found my first appointment letter, promotion later, the documents which outlined how much salary I would get. I found a cringe-worthy resume running to four pages, written much before I worked as a resume writer. And then I found letters from home.

 

When I worked in Mumbai, my father regularly posted to my PG address, envelopes containing newspaper cuttings. The articles were usually about energy (in which I'd just finished my post-grad) or about mainframes(on which I was currently working) and about technical writing (which he thought was a viable career option for me).

 

I would get insanely excited when the post arrived, when I saw the large white envelope with my name and address written in my father's distinctive, confident handwriting (which mine has now started resembling.) I would tear open the envelope only to see a single newspaper cutting of a dry article. I called my father and told him that next time, could he at least include a personal note along with the newspaper cutting? You know, send the scent of home to his daughter in a strange land?

 

So the next time he sent me an envelope, he had written on the border of the newspaper article,"For your perusal. NRR." 

 

That was his idea of a personal note.  I called him up and said, "Papaaaaa I am not your colleague at work, I'm your daughter!"

So the next time, he attached a piece of paper along with the cutting, with "Shruthi, you might find this article interesting. Nagraj."

 

Sigh.

 

By the time I got him to write an informal letter to me, it was time for me to come back.

He has improved considerably now. Probably due to the fact that he hasn't actively been to a corporate workplace for a while now. His emails (no post any longer) are much more informal :)