Postmen and women recall the days when the bearer of letters were served tea and snacks by grateful families.
It wasn바카라t easy for Vivek Sood, then a Major in the Indian Army, to leave his home for a border posting. It was the 1980s, and his newly-wed wife was expecting. It was an era when mobile phones didn바카라t exist. One had to book a trunk call or hunt for an STD booth to contact one바카라s family.
Vivek remembers how he began writing letters to his wife instead. When he had to join his first posting after marriage, leaving behind his wife who was carrying their first child, he wanted to make his presence felt all around her. 바카라Many a times, I would call but fail to express what I wanted to say. However, letters are a beautiful way to connect. The choice of words, the calligraphy, the colourful emotions, the pain of separation can all be poured into letters. That바카라s why I chose to make it the medium to introduce myself to my wife.바카라
Decades later, he published those letters in a book바카라Fleeting Moments: Excerpts from a Soldier바카라s Diary. He credits his wife, who treasured those sheets of paper. 바카라My wife still cries when she reads them today,바카라 he quips, adding that letters are the most wistfully warm objects that connect us humans.
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In India, letters are synonymous with 20th century modernity, before the advent of hi-tech communication via cell phones, emails and messaging apps. When the penmanship and colours of ink told more stories than SMS can ever do. That ring of the bicycle bell, the expressionless call: 바카라Postman, postman!바카라 that broke the afternoon reverie, raised expectations and made the heart skip a beat! Can the SMS alert compare with the charm of the wait for the postman? Passion demanded literary imagination. Smileys and emojis wouldn바카라t make the cut. Can new-age apps compete with the yellow post card, blue inland letters and ochre envelopes바카라with stamps and denominations printed in one corner? A time when the Indian Post Office bridged everyone irrespective of caste, community or economic class.
Raj Kumar Gupta, who joined the Indian Postal Service as a postman in 1981, has been delivering letters for 40 years. For the last two years, he is delivering letters to the Prime Minister바카라s Office. He feels elated to be part of India바카라s originary postal code바카라110001바카라accorded to the President and Prime Minister바카라s residence since the inception of the Department of Posts.
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Gupta says, 바카라I have served public as well as VIPs. The routine remains the same. We land up at the post office at around 7am, and start work by sorting letters, arranging them by 바카라beat바카라, scanning their entry into the computer and cell phone, making lists of letters to be delivered. Finally, between 11am and noon, we leave with the letters for their destinations.바카라 He feels that while the volume of personal letters may have fallen over the years, the postman바카라s work hasn바카라t reduced a bit, and has evolved to match the new needs of the people and the nation.
According to several postmen in Delhi, there was a time when people used to treat them with great dignity and respect, offering them water, sometimes even sweets when they brought them good news. 바카라Today, people treat us like delivery men,바카라 says a postman who didn바카라t wish to be identified.
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The last huge rush in post offices across India was on July 15, 2013, when the Government of India ended the domestic telegram service. There were snaking queues at post offices as people wanted to relieve the nostalgia of sending a telegram one last time before the 163-year-old service disappeared.
(This appeared in the print edition as "Bells of Letters")
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