A letter to you

If you had to write a letter to yourself, what would it say? Would it involve a candid chat with your conscience or a list of things that you would like to improve about yourself?

A few days ago, I received a call from my 12-year-old nephew in India, his voice a tad bit antsy with excitement.

He had entered a letter-writing competition at school that required him to write to someone about an interesting person. There were two conditions though: the writer had to know the person well and he or she couldn't be a celebrity.

As with all competitions, there was a time limit within which entries must be received: one week.

Eager to win, he didn't mind spending essential pocket money on an international call to brainstorm ideas with me.

I did offer to call back, but I don't think he heard me as he went on about how the people he knew well were "very boring" and those that were "very interesting" were out of town.

He didn't want to write about his parents or siblings for fear of being mocked by his peers, who might think it was "quite cheesy".

We both agreed that this was a genuine emergency this was the explanation he could give at home when the bill arrived at the end of the month and decided to take half an hour to think.

The phone rang 10 minutes later. His ‘eureka' moment had happened while I was still staring at the ceiling, hoping for inspiration. He decided he would "invent" his subject as being "imaginative" would give him an edge in the competition.

I liked the idea but wasn't sure if the organisers would agree with it. They didn't.

Two days later and four days before competition entries closed, he had yet to find someone interesting who he knew well enough to write a 500-word letter about.

It dawned on me then that he could and should write about himself he was interesting, definitely not a celebrity and what better age than 12 to do some soul-searching?

It took me Dh25 worth of talk time to convince him that no one knew him better than he knew himself, and overcome his concerns that his friends would think his choice of person was "uncool and conceited". I asked him to balance the negatives with things that he liked about himself and ended the call, hoping he would take my advice.

Ten days later, I received a letter snail-mailed by my cousin.

The envelope contained a copy of his certificate (he had secured second place), a blank sheet of A4-sized paper and a ballpoint pen.

A tiny card stapled to the sheet of paper had a yellow smiley face on it.

I smiled as I realised the relevance of the contents: he wanted me to write a letter to myself too.

I was lost for words. What would I say to myself and where would I begin?

There was no competition to win but the task was tough nonetheless.

Bored and with nothing to do, I began to write. Dear Nasheet …