The importance of being a postman in the time of IM

AS Joel Kumar

With the advent Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and many such Instant Messaging (IM) applications, many predicted the death knell postal mails. With all the communications needs being met at the touch of a button many argued that postal mail would become obsolete in India. But Indian Postal Department proved everybody wrong and postman in the country is still bringing various kinds of communications to our doorsteps.

It’s also true that the number of ordinary mails have come down while speed posts, registered posts, parcels and other important mails of business houses have remained undiminished. In a city like Hyderabad every postman has to deliver on an average of 600 mails everyday. Recently India Post has tied with several e-commerce sites to deliver online products to customers. With this postmen are also carrying with them online products. “In cities number of housholds have increased and rise in apartment culture also making our job tough. Some mails we have to give personally to the said person. For some people like stock brokers, we have to deliver one or the other mails at a regular basis” says Ramkoti area postman Laliya Naik standing in front of huge apartment .

Today the a postman not only delivers mails but try to educate people on central government schemes and takes the responsibility of enrolling them in various government schemes

The word Postman only signifies men in khaki who deliver postal mails. But there are also postwomen working in India Post. These women clad in kaki sarees are also delivering postal mails to household and business houses with same dedication. They are second to none in the department. “Daily we deliver hundreds of mails. We are well respected by general public. We also feel proud to work for the postal department” says Bhagyalakshmi, postwomen attached to Hyderabad General Post Office.

For many years postmen pedalled their bicycle to deliver mails while people eagerly waited for their arrivals. The moment they hear chiming of bicycle bells at their doorstep, their emotions would run high and so is the keenness to know the content of the letters. But things have changed now. Most postmen in metros and tier II cities deliver letters on motorbikes. But in villages, postmen mostly pedal their way to deliver mails and they are still considered as well wishers by many. The postmen also deliver money orders and enroll people in various government schemes nowadays.

With ever changing communication technology the postal department has always been at the centre of debate. There were some reports about downsizing of staff. “The reports of postal department trying to downsize the staff is not true. Our India Post never tried to remove people . All those are rumours created by some courier companies to tarnish the image of postal department, “says Durgaiah, National Union of Postal Employees Hyd wing president.

”Today the a postman not only delivers mails but try to educate people on central government schemes and takes the responsibility of enrolling them in various government schemes” says Hyderabad General post office chief post master Janardhan Reddy.

There were times when postmen were seen in films. There were heroes who donned the role of a postman in Bollywood and Tollywood. Many film titles were based on letters and even songs wherein hero heroine sing as per the situation. If one comes to real life, we have letters written by former Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira Gandhi on world history .Later, a book titled Glimpses of World History was released.

A postman is a person who always carried various kinds of of emotion and information in mails. The postman is someone who always connected people and still connects people despite various hurdles and difficulties and still continues to be part of every Indian’s family.