The mode of communications has changed much in the past couple of decades. Here I am referring to communication between two persons who are not in close proximity. In present times I do not think twice before dialing up a contact for a quick chat. The person's location is not at all a factor while I make the call. Nor is the subject matter of the call, it could be as trivial as enquiring what was breakfast.
My thoughts go back to over two decades ago when I began my expat existence. So here I was in Mumbai, the name change had just happened from good old Bombay, getting ready to start the new life. I get a call from a gentleman who wanted to pass on some papers to his son, who was going to be my new colleague in the foreign land. So he drops in the same day with a bulky package and says it has some documents, a pair of shirts and some sweets. After he leaves, my better half cautions me about the package and insists that I open it and check the contents as I will be responsible for the contents when I land in the foreign port. Having heard enough horror stories of carriers getting locked up for talcum powder turning out to be more heady stuff, I didn't want to take a chance. Fortunately, there was no 'talcum powder'.
The airport, very different from today, had large crowds dropping off their loved ones. A couple of strangers approached me asking me my destination and requesting if I could carry envelopes, presumably letters, for their near and dear ones at my destination. Putting on a stone face I ignored their pleas. I realised that to save a few rupees on foreign air-mail, this was a regular feature at the airport. At the destination, there would 'collectors' to take over the last-mile journey for these letters. Over the past two decades, this practice seems to have died a natural death.
My first weekend as an expat was in Kuwait. Having nothing much to do I went out for a walk in the evening. It was a cold wintry evening and the streets were deserted. The silence in the streets was deafening, broken occasionally by the roar of the lone vehicle driving past. I was walking towards the city center. As I plodded on, I could hear a low buzzing sound. Sounding almost like a swarm of bees. As I neared the city center the buzzing grew louder. I also started seeing people walking very purposefully in one direction. I did slow down my walk but I continued in the same direction. I turned into the open space at the city center and it was a sight to behold. There were hundreds of people, gathered in multiple groups. I realised it was probably the same as the sounds that were heard at the Tower of Babel. No, it wasn't as if their language had been confounded, but they were indeed speaking different languages.
The groups were different linguistic groups. It dawned on me that this being the holiday for the expat labour community, they gathered in the city center to meet friends and relatives. These gatherings were primarily used to exchange mails brought in by someone who had returned from the homeland. It also served as a point for collecting the outward mails. These outward mails would all be in the airmail envelopes with the red and blue borders. They also would have the requisite stamps affixed. So anyone going home would collect these envelopes and post them as soon as they land in their home country.
I could see all the nationalities there, of course, the majority were Indians. Among Indians, the Malayalees being the majority. Among the Malayalees, the groups were almost village wise. This was the age of audio cassettes and the envelopes that went back and forth also had cassettes in them. The handwritten mails were graduating to audio mails. This was a short-lived phase. Probably the lack of headphones compromised the privacy of these messages.
Further into my stay and travels to the other countries in the region I realised that every large city had similar meeting points for the expat population. Even today when the snail-mails have become almost forgotten, the gatherings still happen. Now the purpose is to meet and greet and the occasional sharing of delicacies brought in by a recent returnee. Despite the VOIP calls and free video calls, it is heartwarming to note that face to face meets are still in fashion.
I could see all the nationalities there, of course, the majority were Indians. Among Indians, the Malayalees being the majority. Among the Malayalees, the groups were almost village wise. This was the age of audio cassettes and the envelopes that went back and forth also had cassettes in them. The handwritten mails were graduating to audio mails. This was a short-lived phase. Probably the lack of headphones compromised the privacy of these messages.
Further into my stay and travels to the other countries in the region I realised that every large city had similar meeting points for the expat population. Even today when the snail-mails have become almost forgotten, the gatherings still happen. Now the purpose is to meet and greet and the occasional sharing of delicacies brought in by a recent returnee. Despite the VOIP calls and free video calls, it is heartwarming to note that face to face meets are still in fashion.
