Since my family was involved in the transportation business, the postman knocked on our door almost every day. Sometimes a letter, or a driver's complaint, or the goodwill of a truck driver from a remote area was recorded. It is a different matter that this good news in the form of a letter was sometimes received after the return of these people or several months later. What could you do but complain to the postman? Bollywood's Hindi films have portrayed the postman in a romantic way, but we had almost the same relationship with him. As soon as the postman appeared in the street, we children would tear our throats and chant the postman's mail.
As soon as the postman's bell rang in a khaki uniform on a bicycle, he would come out to get a money order, a letter, a parcel, an Eid or a Diwali card. People who were literate would quickly open the envelopes and start reading, and those who did not know how to read and write would beg from the postman and listen to the letter from him. Before the advent of internet, email, SMS, WhatsApp, etc., the postman used to perform all these duties and his bra was with everyone's life.
But last week a mountain of surprise fell on me when my four-year-old son asked what a postman is. In the community helper class, her teacher made it very easy for the children to understand about doctors, police, firefighters. But when it came to the postman, the children did not understand which creature it was. No child had mailed, never even seen the post office. The teacher tried to convince them through e-mails, WhatsApp and online order delivery and courier service, but the children were still curious. I also wondered how such a character, who was a part of every household until a few decades ago, had disappeared so quickly. My son made the move just as he was preparing to celebrate World Post Day.
I was just thinking of writing an obituary over the postman and mourning the expulsion of this important person from society. I thought that Arvind Kumar Singh, the historian and writer of the post office in India, should be asked where to mourn. But he said India does not live in cities and most parts of the country are still dependent on postmen and post offices. While post offices are closing in most countries of the world, new post offices are opening in India despite the wave of communication revolution.
I couldn't believe it but it turned out that at the time of independence there were only 23,334 post offices in the country, but today their number has increased to 156,721. India has 1.56 lakh post offices in an area of 32.88 lakh sq km while China has 76,358 post offices in an area of 95.95 lakh sq km. United States. There are 37,653 post offices in 93.72 lakh sq km. According to the Universal Postal Union, in 2013-14, there were a total of 6.40 lakh post offices worldwide, of which 1.56 lakh were in India alone. Now I had to believe after hearing so many details and statistics. Arvind Kumar was saying that the postal system in India was very strong even before the arrival of the British. Earlier the postal service was used by kings and rulers. There was an excellent system of delivery throughout the country by the old-fashioned postmen. Such a person was assigned as a person who was able to perform all kinds of activities.
He knows how to use musical instruments as well as swords and spears and is capable of running fast. Arvind Kumar Singh's book 'Indian Post, Travelogue of Centuries' is a treasure trove of information, but it is by far the best research book on the postal service. He says it was important for all the runners to run fast, to wield warheads because they had to cross rivers and dense forests. They could be confronted by an animal or a robber. But it is the religion of the British Raj to make everyone a postman and give them the job of just ringing the bell instead of weapons. The British had set up their trading houses in Surat, Agra, Bhardwaj and Ahmedabad in 1619. He did not trust the operators, so the company launched a postal service.
The modern postal service began in 1727. Later, the Calcutta Presidency was formally launched in 1774, the Madras Presidency in 1786 and the Bombay Postal Service in 1973. Under the Central Administration in 1854, when the Indian Post started operations, the number of postmen was only 1663. In 1856, it was made mandatory for each postman to deliver at least 75 letters a day, and even today. Delhi Round Post Office, which before 1947 served as the Viceroy's post office, delivered about 50,000 letters a day. In the storm of communication revolution, India Post has changed itself over time to save itself. That is why India Post is still the heartbeat of rural areas. Banking service, life insurance, money order, speed post, MGNREGA wage distribution work, getting Aadhaar card or railway ticket, these are all new responsibilities of India Post.
Since the Post Office Bank also operates in rural areas, 350 million people have opened their accounts in it. The importance of the Indian post was once again assessed during the Corona epidemic. During the lockdown, everything from medicines to ventilators, COVID-19 test kits and other medical devices were delivered to the destination by the postal department. I would like to salute this system on World Postal Day.
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