Demise of the wonderful postal service

Scene 1. A letter pad and a fountain pen. Ink is poured inside the pen. A letter is written in beautiful handwriting. It is folded with great care. The letter is put inside an envelope. A 4-anna stamp is stuck on a corner. It is dropped inside a letter box. The postman comes at 4 pm. Opens the letter box and puts everything inside his leather bag. 

Scene 2.  A mobile phone. The mail compose option is opened.  A letter is written. The send button is clicked. The letter is sent.   

It would not be saying the untruth that the joy of writing a letter is gone forever. Addressing your mother or father or wife or fiancé in the sweetest of terms, and pouring out your heart on the paper was a pleasure of celestial kind. It is all buried in the void called time, never to be retrieved ever again. But as long as it lasted it elicited profound pleasure in both the sender and the receiver.  No denying, the art of letter writing will remain etched in the minds of the elderly generation.  

Elderly people will fondly remember the services the postal department offered across the country for decades since inception. Citizen’s life depended on the postal service in many ways and the conspicuous presence of the ‘postman’ at the doorsteps with his bag carrying letters, parcels and money orders was a sight not to be erased easily. Postmen usually came during the noon wearing his kahki half pants and a khaki shirt with the monogram of the postal department stitched on one of the shirt pockets. He would pause for about 20 seconds and then run on to reach the next house to deliver letters etc. When he shouted ‘telegram,’ it sent a cold shiver down the spine of everyone in the house. Mostly if it contained a line or two such as, “Father gravely ill. Come home sharp.”  Gifts like books came through the postal service, which the postman delivered to the recipient. On some rare occasions, I noticed the postman in Wari, the residential area where we lived in our childhood, stopping by for a minute or so to exchange pleasantries with the elderly members of the house. But I do not remember him taking any food item or tea while on duty.

This also reminds me of meeting a real life ‘dak harkara’ or a ‘runner’ in a village in the early 1960s. Runners used to actually run across villages at night with a spear and a lantern. He used to have a pair of ‘ghungrus’ around his ankles that made sound when he ran at night. The song ‘Runner’ by Shalil Chowdhury and Hemant Kumar immortalized the plight of a dak harkara or runner.    

Let us take a look at history to learn how the postal service began. Sources tell us that during the early years of the East India Company it managed a small postal service in this part of the world.  This was necessary to ensure the lines of communication between the trading centres of Calcutta and those of Dhaka, Chittagong, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Rajmahal and Murshidabad.

In 1766, the first reform in postal service was introduced by Robert Clive. A postmaster was appointed in Calcutta, which was connected with six mail routes. The main connection was with Dhaka and Patna. This system was known as Clive’s Post.

During the period of Warren Hastings, a General Post Office (GPO) was established in Calcutta on 17 March 1774. The new tariff for a letter under a regular ‘dak’ system was 2 annas (one anna was one-sixteenth part of a taka) for every 160 km within Bengal. For this, 139 stages, 417 harkaras, 139 mashalchies (torchbearers) and 139 drummers were appointed. The dak system not only carried letters but also provided facilities for travel. In 1784, the ‘palki dak’ (palanquin postal service) was introduced.

The palki dak would carry both passengers and letters and would operate round the year, except for four months of the rainy season from June to September. The ‘banghy dak’ or the parcel post was introduced through various dak chowkis of eastern Bengal in 1785. This was the predecessor to the modern parcel post system. In 1791, the postal rates were revised and the rate calculated from Calcutta was 3 annas for Dhaka, and 6 annas for Chittagong. A more systematic and organised approach towards the postal service was taken after passing the regulation of 1793, according to which the zamindars were to maintain the local dak. At this time the business class used to maintain their own dak system called the mahajani dak. This patronised the well-established individuals, merchants and zamindars. Lord Wellesley reformed the postal system through a bill passed in 1798. The post offices of Eastern Bengal were under the jurisdiction of Calcutta GPO, which in 1798-99 had 9 branches - at Dhaka, Chittagong, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Natore, Kumarkhali, Raghunathpur, Sylhet and Ramu.

First postage stamp of the Indian Subcontinent was introduced on 1 October 1854. With its introduction a unified postal rate was introduced.

Carriages of mail by the railway began in 1854 and the Railway Mail Service (RMS) was established in 1864. In 1854, the first postage stamps were introduced having denominations of half anna (red-orange) and one anna (bright blue). Travelling post offices opened service in 1875 and regular railway mail service was introduced on 1 February 1880, which initiated sorting of local mails. During the year 1864-65, the postal service doubled its income.

History further says that in September 1878, the East Bengal Circle, with headquarters in Dhaka and delivery offices in Chittagong, Mymensingh, Comilla, and Noakhali were formed. The post card was introduced from 1 July 1879 and this was the cheapest rate in the world at that time. Embossed envelopes valued at 1 anna were introduced on 1 July 1873. Dispatching letters by registered post was introduced on 1 August 1877, value payable postal service on 1 December 1877 and insured letter service on 1 January 1878. Letterboxes were first introduced in 1856-57 and their number rose gradually.

The money order system was introduced in all post offices from 1 January 1880. The postal circle of Assam was created on 1 April 1873 with districts of Cooch Bihar, Sylhet and Kachhar under a chief inspector.

The telegraph service was introduced in all major post offices, and was gradually extended. The railway mail and sorting office was extended to steamer services and the first such RMS section was opened in 1884 with the Assam Steamer Service, which was, however, abolished in 1904.

In the Dhaka and Narayanganj steamer service RMS was opened to work between Narayanganj and Fenchuganj. On Barisal and Khulna steamer service RMS was opened in 1899 but was abolished in 1902. The telegram service was introduced through the telegraph offices attached to the post offices from 1 December 1883. Express telegram service was introduced in 1909.

The writer is Associate Editor of The Business Post