Dear Comrades,
NOT A TALE; BUT IN REALITY
NEW DELHI, October 10, 2013
An ode to Indian postal system
RANA SIDDIQUI ZAMAN
Trailing the journey of the Indian postal system from 1668 till 2007, Arvind Kumar Singh’s book“Bharatiya Dak: Sadiyon Ka Safarnama” has
been chosen by the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource
Development for the Shiksha Puraskar or the Education Award for the year
2009. The award was launched by the Government of India in 1992 for
encouraging original writings in Hindi in the field of education.
Published by National Book Trust, the book has already been
translated into three languages -- English, Hindi and Assamese -- and is
going to be translated in seven to 12 more languages.
“This book has been a best-seller on the subject and that the new
editions will have a new look,” said an NBT representative.
One of its chapters titled “ Chittiyon KI Anokhi Duniya – the unique world of letters” has also been included in the NCERT book of Class VIII which runs into seven pages.
Titled
the “Moving encyclopaedia of Indian Post” in English, the book has 43
chapters and explains in detail the postal systems during the times of
kings and nobility, modern and rural postal systems, postmen’s lives and
the hardships they face, postcard, letterbox, earlier postal services
through pigeons to dak-bunglows to horses and elephants and from male
runners to rail, air etc.
It notes that that stalwarts in their own fields like Noble
Laureate C.V. Raman, authors Munshi Prem Chand, Rajinder Singh Bedi,
Nirad C. Chaudhary and Mahashewta Devi, actor Dev Anand and celebrated
Dogri writers Shivnath and Krishna Bihari ‘Noor’ were once postal
department employees.
Arvind
Singh’s book has been written for the layman and is about the post
Independence status of the postal services. It covers the challenges met
by the carriers of postal services and its heroic survival despite the
onslaught of technology via mobile, internet and private couriers.
Recalling a story about another person who wanted to write on
the subject, the 52-year-old author, who hails from UP, said: “A
postman in Allahabad wanted to write a book on the subject but due to
financial constraints and ill health he died. He would get me my money
order which I used to wait desperately for in my college days in
Allahabad. Once when I didn’t get any money order, I went to see him. He
was ill. I came to know that day that he used to give me money from his
own pocket if my money order didn’t reach on time. It humbled me
immensely and raised my curiosity to know more about the lives of
postmen. But due to the lack of any research material, I had to run
across the whole of India and meet almost every postman, virtually every
post office to know the reality behind this unique service.”
