A handwritten letter, 30 June 2014, 11:00 PM. Reconstructed from surviving scanned pages — page 3 of the original letter was not among the scans and is missing here; the gap is marked below.
Dear ,
Yes! Indeed this is a letter, not a postcard this time. By the time you get this letter, the main contents might be redundant (if we happen to converse via email), nevertheless, I had wanted to write a letter for a long time to you & I’m in a nice mood to do so. Before I begin, let me thank you for your postcard explaining your hike to Mt. Washington & the bicycle ride on the road along the sea. Over time I’ve received a fair no. of postcards, from friends as well as strangers (when I was on postcrossing), but only a few have filled within me a true feeling of warmth & happiness. Yours was one of those few. I hope you travel far and wide & get a chance to see all this life has to offer as well as experience the range of emotions and feelings the human is capable of. You will undoubtedly change some aspects of your life as you travel more, but as it happened with me, don’t be disappointed if the city takes it back from you. When you get a real chance, all of it will come back to you. It has been close to 9 months since I’ve done any real academics, & therefore, when I opened my Math book the other day, I got so bored that I was deep asleep after 30 min. Sometimes I don’t know if a Masters is a correct step for me now. I feel so connected with the world physically & emotionally now that I feel books sort of inanimate objects without a soul (which they are, but was not for me when I was younger). Perhaps, when I start studying & get into the routine, things will fall in place & I will find my love for the subject as well as academics again. I don’t have a straightforward answer to this & I don’t seek one. My friend once told me that in times in life you don’t have to go look for answers but let the answers come to you.
I believe we last fully communicated when we were applying to study. Since then, I’ve been at a farm, where I spent some 40 days, then the Mountaineering course for 26 days followed by a week nearby in Kashmir. It was not long before I came home that I set in motion again — to the South of India
— [page 3 of the original letter is missing; the account of the South India travel continues below, unbroken in the surviving scans] —
that the contents of those letters/entries are (I presume so) not that personal, though certainly not of great value, however, should you seek those, out of curiosity or otherwise I would be happy to send them to you, for in a sense, addressed to you they are rightfully yours. I would like to share with you & elaborate upon my experiences & observations of the travel worth three months, however such a detail would prove to be too lengthy for this letter & could possibly be, if you would like it, so, the subject matter of letters to come.
Since I’m intent on completing this letter soon, without taking too much space I will tell you ‘how’s life nowadays!’. I’m actually quite happy & though thoughts & things which make your happiness conditional or temporary or turn it into guilt do exist they have decreased by a substantial no. I’ve learned to enjoy things more than ever. I also like to keep my body in action & as much as the harsh climate permits us from going outdoors, I like tidying up the kitchen every day, my rooms, cooking & more cleaning. They are enormously satisfying.
I’m reading a book called A Wild Sheep Chase by a Japanese writer called Murakami & quite liking his odd style of plot making & engrossing story telling & fine use of language. In hiccups, I’m also reading the Faber Book of Exploration which is an anthology of works of great explorers spanning across the globe. Excerpts of books of some authors have striked a deep chord with me, the mere words set to a mental attachment & likeness which I can’t describe. I read them many times, in some unconscious wish to memorize them forever. I hope to read the full books/accounts of some of them some day. I got a membership in the local German Center & hope to learn introductory German by the many resources available there. Other time is spent talking to & meeting family, friends & relatives.
It’s 12 now & I’m sleepy & thus this letter ends.
Take care,