The Letter | A Short Story

Mahima Miss put on her stylish glasses and turned to the class. The children in VI A gazed back at her.

‘Today, we will write a letter,’ announced Mahima Miss.

‘To whom?’ inquired Ganesh, who sat on the last bench.

‘”To whom” is incorrect English,’ said Aarti. ‘It should be “to who”.’

‘To which to who?’ Ajit called out, imitating an owl.

‘Quiet!’ said Mahima Miss. ‘We will learn how to write a letter today.’

The class went quiet.

‘Open your notebooks,’ ordered Ms. Mahima. There was a rustle of pages as the students opened their notebooks. ‘Now, assuming you were to write to someone about your summer vacation, or any trip you made anywhere…’

‘I went to Ooty!’ gushed Janhvi, looking all around and beaming with pride.

Immediately, there was commotion as each student shouted the name of some place or the other. Ravi, who had joined the school the day before, sat silent.

‘Alright,’ said Mahima Miss.

‘Now, the topic of the letter should be, “I wish you were here”. That is, you write to someone you are fond of, wishing they were here with you, so you could enjoy the moment together.’

Ganesh jabbed Rajesh in the ribs. ‘You write to me, and I’ll write to you.’

‘I certainly wouldn’t wish you to be where I was,’ replied Rajesh.

‘Janhvi, I’d like to come with you to Ooty,’ yelled Suhasini from across the class. All the students began making a racket. Ravi, the new boy, sat quietly as he watched his noisy classmates.

Mahima Miss rapped the duster on the desk. ‘Silence!’ she thundered. The noise quickly abated.

‘You start the letter with “Dear so-and-so” or “My dear so-and-so”,’ she wrote on the blackboard.

‘Is “so-and-so” your friend, Miss?’ Ganesh inquired.

‘One more word out of your mouth, Ganesh, and I’ll send you packing,’ retorted the teacher. ‘The letter shouldn’t be longer than a few paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a point. That is, the first paragraph needs to be about greetings and inquiries about your friend’s health and well-being.’

‘The second one could be about where you are and how you got there, the third paragraph could describe the place, and so on. The last paragraph should end with “I wish you were here.” You then end the letter with “Yours sincerely” or “Yours affectionately”, or if you are very close to the person, you can round it off with “With love”. And then you sign your name.’ She wrote these words on the blackboard and asked the students if it was clear to them.

‘Yes, miss,’ the students chorused.

And then there was silence, except for the relentless scratching of pens and pencils on paper. The class was very engrossed for some time.

‘Have you finished?’ Mahima asked for a while.

‘Yes, Miss,’ the class shouted.

‘Alright, then. Now, Jennifer, read your letter.’

Jennifer rose and shyly started reading. ‘Dear Leela, I went to Kanyakumari for vacation. It is a place surrounded by the sea on three sides.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s not surrounded until all four sides are involved,’ said Ajit.

‘That would make it an island,’ quipped Aarti.

‘Please let her read,’ intervened Mahima Miss.

Jennifer continued, ‘The sunrise and sunset are worth watching there. You can also swim in the ocean. I wish you were here.’

Mahima Miss praised Jennifer for her eloquence and then asked Janhvi to read her letter. Janhvi had written to her friend, Radha, using a lot of rhyming words – Ooty and beauty, high and fly, rain and train, and so on. The class laughed at these silly rhymes. A few others also read their letters, all addressed to friends.

And that’s when Mahima Miss turned to the new boy. ‘So, Ravi, what do we have there? Go on, read it.’

‘Yes, miss,’ said Ravi, who began reading the letter in a subdued voice. ‘Dear Daddy…’

‘You’ve written to your father?’ inquired Miss Mahima, quite surprised.

Ravi nodded.

‘He probably needs some pocket money from his dad,’ quipped Ganesh.

‘Or maybe he doesn’t have any friends,’ added Ajit.

Everyone passed some nasty remark or the other, each of which was followed by a great deal of laughter. Ravi stood quietly.

Mahima Miss asked him to read on.

‘Dear Daddy, we are all fine. We are still getting used to our new way of life after moving to this town.’

‘Do you remember the days we spent playing hockey in the front yard? Sometimes, we played carrom, too. I even managed to win a few games! I think you let me win on purpose, but I enjoyed the games, anyway.’

‘Mom and I will be visiting the hospital. The doctor said that the new baby is due in a couple of days. Grandpa and Grandma take very good care of me. Mom says she wants me to be a soldier. The baby too, if it’s a boy.’

‘We are all doing fine, but we really miss you. I wish you were here. With love, Ravi.’

‘That’s a very beautiful letter, Ravi,’ remarked Mahima Miss. ‘Maybe you should post it to your father. He would enjoy reading it.’

Ravi kept quiet.

‘Where is your Dad?’ inquired Mahima Miss.

‘Somewhere in Kargil,’ replied Ravi. ‘He is a Captain in the Army.’

The class went quiet.

‘You can send the letter to him through the Army Postal Service.’

‘No, Miss,’ said Ravi. ‘We got a letter from the Army stating that he was lost in action. I mean, martyred in war.’

There was a gasp from the children. The class was engulfed in silence.

‘Anyway, I wanted to write to him,’ said Ravi.

Mahima Miss was dumbfounded and speechless. She stood frozen near the blackboard. Her eyes welled with tears as she got overwhelmed with respect for the brave young boy.