I almost stepped on an envelope with imprint of an airplane on the cover.
It’s been a while since I saw that design. We used to write intimate letters, telling in detail what had happened in our lives, then “seal with a kiss” an envelope which had “Par Avion” on it.
In fact, when Vietnam was still North and South the way Korea now is, we were allowed to mail only post cards across the DMZ. So and so just had a third baby, the youngest finally got married and moved out etc….(Good news!:)
We lived with what was available at the time: American cars for wedding rental, Pan Am flights, and Vespas (Roman Holiday without Gregory Peck).
Now I heard of $3,000 Chinese-made cars.
No thanks.
I’d rather get married and chauffeured away in a ferry or a bus, slowly but surely.
Best off is to take pictures in front of Notre Dame De Saigon and walk across the colonial boulevard to a Bowling Party at nearby Diamond Plaza.
Speaking of Malls.
Shoppers in the US are anticipating Black Friday shopaholic reunion.
“My name is Tommy, and I am a shopaholic”.
The prayer of serenity will be recited in unison.
Friendship fosters via common interests. And what is more popular than the love for shopping?
I used to be into ties and books.
Now, if given a choice, I still am into books, and you can keep the ties.
Except for when I attend a wedding. Like yesterday, of all places, in Cu Chi
(No, I did not wear a tie to crawl into one of those war-time tourist “traps”).
Still, a wedding in the country, especially in Vietnam, brought out major “players”.
I got to meet a very important man in the vice squad.
Go clubbing safely my friend, from here on.
It’s important who you know, not what you know.
Back to modern mode of communication.
Vinaphone and Vietel will offer 4-G.
Who is going to write letters and “seal with a kiss” before sending them via PAR AVION letters any more?
Even fax, chat and e-mail will soon be obsolete.
When I saw the young groom, tall and slick, I know time has moved on.
His kids will be of the 4-G + generation.
Text, voice and video, simultaneously.
No more Concorde or Cu Chi.
Messages will be instantaneously delivered.
As we think, shall others know.
Par Avion will be too slow (turn of 20th century not 21st).
My parents did not think so at the time.
To them, buying a stamp that had “Par Avion” meant having less meat for the meal.
Faster mail= leaner meat.Perhaps the same is still true today with many families in emerging economies (I-phone 5 = less milk).
One will have to grow stronger, swifter and smarter. Welcome to an increasingly flat world, at the speed of light (fiber optic). But that envelope on the street did trigger this lengthy flash back to the past.
Proust would be proud! After all, I did not title this “Air Mail“. It’s Par Avion.
Thang Nguyen 555 