I loved this post. Since you asked, here is my brush with letter-writing:
I grew up in Mumbai during the 1960s. My decidedly middle-class family had a "servant" - a full-time helper who lived on the edges of our very basic lives. He was 100% illiterate.
Starting when I was about ten, my mother would ask me to be the scribe, writing letters in my neat schoolgirl handwriting as dictated by him. All the letters were to his wife who lived in a village far from any highway or electricity. She would also have to have someone read the letters to her. The content was basic: I am sending xxx money to you, how is the (subsistence level/sharecropping) farm doing? I am well, hope you are too.
With an imagination activated by Bollywood movies, I would add a line or two of my own. "I miss you," I would write. When I would read the letter back to him, he would smile sheepishly.
This is one of my more vivid (and painful) memories from childhood. I trace my emerging awareness of inequality, injustice, etc to my empathy for him and sadness for his hardscrabble life. (Echoes of the short story titled Kabuliwalla by Rabindranath Tagore.)
Nandini, I'm so honoured and blessed that you would come and share your story here :) Living halfway across the world, it would never be possible to have met you and heard your stories if it wasn't for substack. It's so fascinating to hear a first-hand account of this as so far I've only heard second-hand accounts so far-- my favourite part is I LOVE that you added a little flair to your sentences when you were younger ;) I haven't read any Tagore yet (we might have touched upon it in school but nothing remains in my memory.....) but a just did a quick google search of the story and it's so sad, especially because iterations of this story still happens for many migrant labour workers to this day. Funnily enough reading your story Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things came to mind, I think just because it was the last book I read that was set in India, to which this day her killer prose I cannot forget.
This is fascinating - can't wait for part 2! And a potential idea for you: interviewing the various women who 打小人 under that one bridge in HK 😉
I reckon I'd be one of the following if I were alive hundreds of years ago:
- If a man, the good-for-nothing youngest son of a prominent political family who becomes a court official through nepotism. I accidentally insult the emperor's favourite concubine and my family ultimately disown me to save the family line. Exiled to a remote outpost, I spend my days drinking and reciting my poetry to the birds that perch on my windowsill.
- If a woman, the most beautiful girl in the town. My family are tenant pig farmers so we're at the bottom of the social ladder. I catch the eye of the governor's eldest son and am arranged to be married to him but my heart belongs to another (the kind herbalist) 🥺 We would elope to the neighbouring state but war soon breaks out and he's conscripted to fight. I would then spend the rest of my life writing poetry and waiting for him to come home 🥺
Hello Tofu!!!! Omgosh, I’d be scared to approach them 🙈 If you’re from HK, I’ll leave the interviewing to you if so 🤭
Hahah that’s very specific and I love it! I would love to be a nobleman, they look so cool in dramas (but quite beardy in ancient paintings) I want to add I’d probably also be writing poetry and pieces on the side if I were a letter writer, and dream of making it big as a poet. Maybe one of my poems would be remembered, and would be one of the ones that are written by “Anonymous” cos no one would know who wrote it lol.
Do you think the women who 打小人 recite from a script or are completely free-styling? I’ve been watching some clips of them in action and it’s actually quite poetic and sweet 🥺 they burn a paper tiger to eat the villains in your life!
Maybe one day your poetry would make it into a song of a Jay Chou-like figure which mobilizes the entire world of academia to uncover your identity!
Currently learning how to read Chinese, so I probably need their services!
We take literacy for granted these days, and I'm glad most Chinese are literate in China these days. Outside of her, however, many of the diaspora struggle with Chinese literacy ;P
A fascinating look at an old service that has existed for centuries.
Good luck with your Chinese learning journey! My Chinese is also far from perfect and I still have lots to learn too…. Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts Elizabeth :)
Thank you for sharing such a fascinating history! I feel like this is a job I’d enjoy so much. It’s really nice to hear that it still exists in its own way. I wish letter writing in general would make a comeback!
Hi Clare, I read your essay with great delight and deep nostalgia. Yes, letter writing was still common when I was growing up in Hong Kong, but I never met a letter writer myself. I love how you weave historical facts with your current observations. A rare glimpse into a dying profession. I believe repair ships of electrical appliances are also dwindling, aren't they? They uses to be everywhere, before the disposable culture set in.
Thank you for mentioning my memoirish essays. Reading your newsletter and connecting with you inspires me to continue writing about my long lost hometown.
Thank you for your anecdotes and reflections! Hmm, I think 五金舖, the general hardware stores that do repairs are still quite common in HK, but not sure for how long.
Hmmm, my memory of 五金舖 didn't include electrical repairs. Do 五金舖 repair appliances nowadays? In my days (70s and 80s), there were dedicated shops that do that (often a repairman would give out his number and works in a workshop behind some storefront). I do miss those hardware stores as well as shops that sell household articles and stationery. I witness their gradual disapperance about a decade ago when mom and pop shops were replaced with pharmacies and watch companies to cater for mainland tourists.
Oh thanks for the pictures of the writing services! I'm glad that they exist though they may have been closed. Next time I pass by Jade Market, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for these stalls.
Beautiful writing. Love me some investigative journalism! Very cool that you went to look in the market. Didn’t even know this industry still exists (barely). Makes me think of rhetoric of how technology replaces jobs and how union’s are against it. But it’s the natural part of life. And for people to change jobs to adapt.
You’re so welcome! It’s been a journey, but I’m at a place where I’m grieving the fact that I know so little about my family’s home country and culture. I appreciate your stories, so keep them coming!
I loved this post. Since you asked, here is my brush with letter-writing:
I grew up in Mumbai during the 1960s. My decidedly middle-class family had a "servant" - a full-time helper who lived on the edges of our very basic lives. He was 100% illiterate.
Starting when I was about ten, my mother would ask me to be the scribe, writing letters in my neat schoolgirl handwriting as dictated by him. All the letters were to his wife who lived in a village far from any highway or electricity. She would also have to have someone read the letters to her. The content was basic: I am sending xxx money to you, how is the (subsistence level/sharecropping) farm doing? I am well, hope you are too.
With an imagination activated by Bollywood movies, I would add a line or two of my own. "I miss you," I would write. When I would read the letter back to him, he would smile sheepishly.
This is one of my more vivid (and painful) memories from childhood. I trace my emerging awareness of inequality, injustice, etc to my empathy for him and sadness for his hardscrabble life. (Echoes of the short story titled Kabuliwalla by Rabindranath Tagore.)
Nandini, I'm so honoured and blessed that you would come and share your story here :) Living halfway across the world, it would never be possible to have met you and heard your stories if it wasn't for substack. It's so fascinating to hear a first-hand account of this as so far I've only heard second-hand accounts so far-- my favourite part is I LOVE that you added a little flair to your sentences when you were younger ;) I haven't read any Tagore yet (we might have touched upon it in school but nothing remains in my memory.....) but a just did a quick google search of the story and it's so sad, especially because iterations of this story still happens for many migrant labour workers to this day. Funnily enough reading your story Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things came to mind, I think just because it was the last book I read that was set in India, to which this day her killer prose I cannot forget.
This is fascinating - can't wait for part 2! And a potential idea for you: interviewing the various women who 打小人 under that one bridge in HK 😉
I reckon I'd be one of the following if I were alive hundreds of years ago:
- If a man, the good-for-nothing youngest son of a prominent political family who becomes a court official through nepotism. I accidentally insult the emperor's favourite concubine and my family ultimately disown me to save the family line. Exiled to a remote outpost, I spend my days drinking and reciting my poetry to the birds that perch on my windowsill.
- If a woman, the most beautiful girl in the town. My family are tenant pig farmers so we're at the bottom of the social ladder. I catch the eye of the governor's eldest son and am arranged to be married to him but my heart belongs to another (the kind herbalist) 🥺 We would elope to the neighbouring state but war soon breaks out and he's conscripted to fight. I would then spend the rest of my life writing poetry and waiting for him to come home 🥺
Hello Tofu!!!! Omgosh, I’d be scared to approach them 🙈 If you’re from HK, I’ll leave the interviewing to you if so 🤭
Hahah that’s very specific and I love it! I would love to be a nobleman, they look so cool in dramas (but quite beardy in ancient paintings) I want to add I’d probably also be writing poetry and pieces on the side if I were a letter writer, and dream of making it big as a poet. Maybe one of my poems would be remembered, and would be one of the ones that are written by “Anonymous” cos no one would know who wrote it lol.
Do you think the women who 打小人 recite from a script or are completely free-styling? I’ve been watching some clips of them in action and it’s actually quite poetic and sweet 🥺 they burn a paper tiger to eat the villains in your life!
Maybe one day your poetry would make it into a song of a Jay Chou-like figure which mobilizes the entire world of academia to uncover your identity!
i've never actually seen them in action!
haha that being said, i really wouldn't mind if my words had credits taken by someone like 方文山 instead; his lyrics are so sophisticated and lyrical~
Or a 林夕 and 张国荣 combo would he lovely too 🥺
Love 方文山! Can’t bear to listen to Jay Choi’s new stuff after they stopped collaborating 😔
Currently learning how to read Chinese, so I probably need their services!
We take literacy for granted these days, and I'm glad most Chinese are literate in China these days. Outside of her, however, many of the diaspora struggle with Chinese literacy ;P
A fascinating look at an old service that has existed for centuries.
Good luck with your Chinese learning journey! My Chinese is also far from perfect and I still have lots to learn too…. Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts Elizabeth :)
Thank you for sharing such a fascinating history! I feel like this is a job I’d enjoy so much. It’s really nice to hear that it still exists in its own way. I wish letter writing in general would make a comeback!
thanks for dropping by Ramya! letter writing really needs to come back in a big way. (the next slow burn trend after vinyl maybe??)
Hi Clare, I read your essay with great delight and deep nostalgia. Yes, letter writing was still common when I was growing up in Hong Kong, but I never met a letter writer myself. I love how you weave historical facts with your current observations. A rare glimpse into a dying profession. I believe repair ships of electrical appliances are also dwindling, aren't they? They uses to be everywhere, before the disposable culture set in.
Thank you for mentioning my memoirish essays. Reading your newsletter and connecting with you inspires me to continue writing about my long lost hometown.
Thank you for your anecdotes and reflections! Hmm, I think 五金舖, the general hardware stores that do repairs are still quite common in HK, but not sure for how long.
Hmmm, my memory of 五金舖 didn't include electrical repairs. Do 五金舖 repair appliances nowadays? In my days (70s and 80s), there were dedicated shops that do that (often a repairman would give out his number and works in a workshop behind some storefront). I do miss those hardware stores as well as shops that sell household articles and stationery. I witness their gradual disapperance about a decade ago when mom and pop shops were replaced with pharmacies and watch companies to cater for mainland tourists.
Very enriching. Keep them coming.
You come up with the coolest topics to write about!!! Love love love and can’t wait for Part Two 💕
Thanks so much Caroline 🥹☺️ It means a lot!!! Let’s hope part 2 lives up to your expectations…….
Oh thanks for the pictures of the writing services! I'm glad that they exist though they may have been closed. Next time I pass by Jade Market, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for these stalls.
Beautiful writing. Love me some investigative journalism! Very cool that you went to look in the market. Didn’t even know this industry still exists (barely). Makes me think of rhetoric of how technology replaces jobs and how union’s are against it. But it’s the natural part of life. And for people to change jobs to adapt.
right, so true, and this is one example of that.
Claire, this was a fascinating read and I love all the photos! Looking forward to part 2.
Dear Heidi, thanks for dropping by and subscribing! ^^ I love your pieces on immigrant culture, they resonate with me a lot
You’re so welcome! It’s been a journey, but I’m at a place where I’m grieving the fact that I know so little about my family’s home country and culture. I appreciate your stories, so keep them coming!