Letters Letters wheres are you????

About even 10 years ago I used to see my dad buying huge bunches of Greeting cards around the new Year time and make regular trips to post-office to get postage stamps,inland letters and postcards.Even I used to wait for the greeting cards from my cousins and friends.I used to even write letters to my cousins ,to my grandfather and even to some old friends.I remember how eagerly I used to wit for my granpa's letters because he had this wonderful handwriting which resembled calligraphy while my writing was kind of industrious no reflecting lack of artlessness.The last time I guess I wrote a letter was in 2004 to my friend who was in NDA because mobile phones were not allowed.But after that no letters.
The greetings,the letters remind me of a different era altogether.No sms's ,no emails,even STD calls were few and far in-between.Till the mid 90's STD calls were rare because either you had topay exorbitant rates for those calls at the PCO's or you had to book calls on you telephone only to be charged without having a meaningful conversation.I remember there were contests on TV which asked people to send in the post cards with the correct answers and after 2-3 weeks afe=ter the contest opened we used to wait with bated breath in front of the TV just to see if we had won.Now these postcards have been replaced by SMS's.
I miss those days because letters played a very big role in shaping the way I write,improving my language skills.My Grandpa used to write such beautiful letters and the letters inadvertently contained interesting snippets from his life.He had such wonderful command over the language I doubt I can ever achieve that level.SMS's have reduced the writing skills to pathetic levels.It's now even reflected in the e-mails.
Sadly there are only a few greetings and letters which I have preserved and I feel sorry that I didn't preserve all of them.I never anticipated what once was a way of life would become a thing of the past so soon.