Dear Letter Daddy,

‘Letter-Daddy‘? Rings a bell? No? Okay! You may or may not have read this term anywhere else, before. (Even I haven’t!) But sure enough, I’ve read the term, ‘Letter-Daughter‘. Oh, you still didn’t get it? Fine. Look, I don’t know if you know this, I had a chapter once in English (subject), during my school days, based on the story of Anne Frank. In that text, they gave us a brief idea about the brief life of Anne Frank, her sister Margot, her parents Otto and Edith Frank and their fellow roommates during hiding. Post war period, many survivors of the Holocaust as well as others who were not even a bit affected by the war, but rather were quite disturbed in their lives, tried to seek some emotional help from Otto Frank. Of course, upon reading the words – which were not only beautiful but also strong and determined – of a 13 year old girl, people became inspired to talk to her father, Otto, the only survivor from their family. And so they did it. They corresponded with him via letters. And Otto was kind enough to reply to all of them! Later he couldn’t, due to some health issues. (Oh, how I wish I could have had a chat with him!) One of them (the people who wrote letters to Otto) was a girl/ woman who signed her letter as ‘Your Letter-Daughter’. Isn’t it lovely? 🙂 So that’s where I found this term.

I first read the book, ‘Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl’ in 2012 and immediately wanted Anne as my best friend! But of course, this wasn’t possible. Later when I learnt about the correspondence of people along with Otto Frank, I started growing envious, because even this wasn’t possible for me, as Otto had passed away long before I was even born! But it was around that time that I grew fascinated by the idea of having a Letter-Daddy! I used to dream about how special would our relation be! In the course of time though, all these fantasies began to fade. I became more and more occupied with my studies and my life. I completely forgot about it all, until….

Until I found someone in this blogosphere! I found you! Yes, you!!! I know, this is an Open Letter. And the ‘you’ could relate to anyone. But there is someone out here, who has managed to rekindle the desire for a Letter-Daddy within me. The sparks have been ignited now. I think, it’s true, when the right person comes, you just know it. Maybe our sixth-sense works there.Yet, in today’s world of distrust, I don’t even think if such a father-daughter relationship could be possible. Paranoia is the evil which resides amongst all of us today. The devil that stops us from taking a step ahead. The devil which doesn’t allow us to take any risks! The devil which is within us and only we have the power to chuck it out; yet, we don’t throw him!!

I know we are never going to meet each other. Yet I’m glad to find someone like you. To all those who are reading this, I’m happy to have you all in my life. Thank you! 🙂

Your Letter-Daughter,

Suri.