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Valentine's Day 2023: 63-yr-old from UP reminisces 1000 pages letter he wrote to his wife in 1999

With thousands of things to tell his wife -- about the city he lives in, the people he meets everyday, the things that are happening around the country, and the longing he feels for her everyday -- Jeevan barely had any resources to reach out to his wife and spill his heart out to her. So he decided to write her a heartfelt letter.

Valentine's Day 2023
Valentine's Day 2023
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Published : Feb 14, 2023, 4:55 PM IST

Updated : Feb 14, 2023, 10:34 PM IST

63-year-old Jeevan Bisht from Meerut in conversation with ETV Bharat

Meerut (UP): As the world celebrates the day of love toady, a 63-year-old man from Meerut reminisces the time he wrote a 1000 pages love letter to his wife about 24 years ago. Jeevan Singh Bisht, who lived away from his wife as he worked at the Income Tax Department, took 3 months and 3 days to finish writing the letter. He used a total of 111 pens to write it and sent it to his wife living in his village with their two children.

The letter weighing a total of 8 kgs, still preserved as the token of their love, had made Bisht's wife Kamla extremely happy. As romantic as it sounds, writing the letter took a lot of efforts from Bisht. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Bisht said he also had to take a seven day break from his work in order to finish writing the letter in time.

Remembering the olden days set in the Chapad village in the Almora district of Uttarakhand, Bisht says he was quite young when he fell in love with a girl from his village. Kamla, equally in love with Jeevan, ended up getting married to him soon after they started growing close. After their marriage, Jeevan Singh got a job at the Income Tax Department in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

Though both moved to Meerut in the initial days of their marriage, family responsibilities soon drew them states apart. Kamala, with their children, shifted back to the village to take care of the family, while Jeevan stayed back in Meerut earning bread and butter. He would pay occasional visits to see his family, but was agonized by the distances between him and his loving wife that they both had to endure.

Also read: 'Letters of a Mussoorie Merchant' marks onset of Valentine's day in India: Historian

With thousands of things to tell his wife -- about the city he lives in, the people he meets everyday, the things that are happening around the country, and the longing he feels for her everyday -- Jeevan barely had any resources to reach out to his wife and spill his heart out to her. So he decided to write her a heartfelt letter.

Finding the time to write what had been piling up for so long while doing a full-time job was a difficult task. But his love and dedication did not mellow down. Every day, after he came back from the job, he would sit down to write the letter. Soon it became a habit. Sometimes he would even sit until late night writing things he wanted to tell his wife.

3 months and 3 days later, Bisht finished writing on an average 3,200 words on every page of the love letter. The whole letter, weighing upto 8 kgs, has more than 1 million words. He posted the unusual letter via post, which costed him Rs. 700 -- a fairly large amount during those times.

Kamla, alone in the village, was ecstatic on having received the letter. After reading what her husband had put so much efforts into writing, Kamla also wrote a reply to Jeevan. After over two decades later, the letter still sits in the Bisht household as a valued possession that marks the strength of their love.

63-year-old Jeevan Bisht from Meerut in conversation with ETV Bharat

Meerut (UP): As the world celebrates the day of love toady, a 63-year-old man from Meerut reminisces the time he wrote a 1000 pages love letter to his wife about 24 years ago. Jeevan Singh Bisht, who lived away from his wife as he worked at the Income Tax Department, took 3 months and 3 days to finish writing the letter. He used a total of 111 pens to write it and sent it to his wife living in his village with their two children.

The letter weighing a total of 8 kgs, still preserved as the token of their love, had made Bisht's wife Kamla extremely happy. As romantic as it sounds, writing the letter took a lot of efforts from Bisht. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Bisht said he also had to take a seven day break from his work in order to finish writing the letter in time.

Remembering the olden days set in the Chapad village in the Almora district of Uttarakhand, Bisht says he was quite young when he fell in love with a girl from his village. Kamla, equally in love with Jeevan, ended up getting married to him soon after they started growing close. After their marriage, Jeevan Singh got a job at the Income Tax Department in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

Though both moved to Meerut in the initial days of their marriage, family responsibilities soon drew them states apart. Kamala, with their children, shifted back to the village to take care of the family, while Jeevan stayed back in Meerut earning bread and butter. He would pay occasional visits to see his family, but was agonized by the distances between him and his loving wife that they both had to endure.

Also read: 'Letters of a Mussoorie Merchant' marks onset of Valentine's day in India: Historian

With thousands of things to tell his wife -- about the city he lives in, the people he meets everyday, the things that are happening around the country, and the longing he feels for her everyday -- Jeevan barely had any resources to reach out to his wife and spill his heart out to her. So he decided to write her a heartfelt letter.

Finding the time to write what had been piling up for so long while doing a full-time job was a difficult task. But his love and dedication did not mellow down. Every day, after he came back from the job, he would sit down to write the letter. Soon it became a habit. Sometimes he would even sit until late night writing things he wanted to tell his wife.

3 months and 3 days later, Bisht finished writing on an average 3,200 words on every page of the love letter. The whole letter, weighing upto 8 kgs, has more than 1 million words. He posted the unusual letter via post, which costed him Rs. 700 -- a fairly large amount during those times.

Kamla, alone in the village, was ecstatic on having received the letter. After reading what her husband had put so much efforts into writing, Kamla also wrote a reply to Jeevan. After over two decades later, the letter still sits in the Bisht household as a valued possession that marks the strength of their love.

Last Updated : Feb 14, 2023, 10:34 PM IST
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