Hyderabad: There is that inexplicable feeling when you open a handwritten letter written for you. It is proof that a person’s warm hand touched that piece of paper and wrote those words for you and in this age of instant communication, it is a forgotten feeling. Spreading happiness and ensuring people receive love in the form of handwritten letters is Hyderabadi copy-writer Lubna Ali, who runs the service LetterWOOman, sending handwritten letters based on requests.
“Having always been into writing, I know the impact written words have on people and after watching the movie Her, where the protagonist is a professional letter writer, I was inspired to start this. I started this in the lockdown last year and so far, have written over 100 letters for various clients,” says Lubna.
She adds, “I’ve realised that some people come across as cold hearted, shallow or bland because they don’t express themselves. But they have emotions deeply hidden someplace which is too shy to come out, and that’s where LetterWOOman comes to their rescue. In the era of phone conversations where people fall short of time, sometimes people are too shy, busy or scared to speak their heart out. That’s when letters do the justice.”
There have also been several instances in popular fiction, from Harry Potter to ‘P.S. I Love You’ to ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, that involve handwritten letters and all of those played a role in the conception of LetterWOOman. “We grew up watching all those and wondered what it feels like to receive a letter. They all contributed to me wanting to start this,” she shares.
Lubna takes inputs from clients and understands the emotion they want to convey, in addition to knowing about the likes and dislikes of the recipient and composes letters accordingly, and the letter goes through iterations before it is drafted by hand.
“For instance, if someone wants a letter for their mother and the mother likes Kishore Kumar’s songs, I emote using Kishore Kumar’s song lyrics in the letter and add that personal touch to it. That is how I ensure it is relevant and customised to the recipient,” she explains, adding, “To make it easy for clients, I ask them to send me voice notes or have a call and after that, I do the first draft and send it to the client and make any edits needed before the hard copy is done and I send it to the recipient.”
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