MINE must be among the last of the generations to have waited eagerly for the mailman to bring us a missive; mostly an interview call, and on rare occasions, an appointment letter. Until the late 1990s, there was no concept of online applications or email appointments. As beat reporters, the first gadget issued to the more important among us was a beeper, a match-sized contraption capable of relaying messages such as ‘call office urgently’ or ‘post-haste’ when they emanated from the subbing desk.

The world of literature and cinema would be that much poorer without the genre centred on a lost mailbag containing letters ranging from confessions of mischief to professions of love. From the personal archive, two stand out. One was an interview letter from a foreign news outlet, received a month later than intended. My editor was a lot more crestfallen than I was; imagine the esteem in which yours truly was held. The second was more amusing: a typed letter in a brown, official envelope, crumpled among the myriad contents of a diplomatic pouch. Its opening was a show-stopper: “The competent authority is pleased to terminate your services with immediate effect… .” However painful the rest of the message, the comic irony of the opening........

© Dawn