On
a dull Saturday morning, a few residents of Madhavanagar were
pleasantly surprised to have their letters delivered by a barefooted
postman dressed in ‘kachche panche’ (dhoti) and ‘petha’ (head gear), who
also held a spear with jingling bells tied to it. In his left hand, he
carried a lantern.
The
postman, A.S. Chandrashekhar, also a theatre artiste who goes by the
name GPO Chandru, explained to the bemused citizens the significance
behind his attire.
“When
postal services were introduced in October 1854 in India, this was the
uniform of postmen. With no transport facility then, the postmen would
cover long distances on foot. In some places there was a relay system,
where postmen would deliver letters to their colleagues to reach the
final destination,” he said.
With India Post, Karnataka, celebrating Postal Week till October 15, Dinesh Khare, Deputy Chief Postmaster, Bangalore GPO, toldThe Hindu that
the objective of the exercise was to showcase the journey that the
Postal Department had undertaken thus far. “The postmen used to carry a
spear with jingles attached to it. The spear was for protection and the
bells were used to inform others of their arrival,” he said.
Later, Mr. Chandrashekhar interacted with several schoolchildren and explained why the postmen of yore dressed that way.Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/when-postman-of-the-yore-came-knocking/article6492126.ece
