Indian Postal: delivers life, death and runs India…

Post office is the life line of India.  Not everyone has an email.. in villages, the villagers wait for the postman on the bicycle in the remotest of areas with the eagerness of a kid!  An old Mother is waiting for a money order from her son… a sister send rakhi to her brother… an Army officer’s wife received the telegram that she has dreaded all her wedded life!  Post office distributes life, death, love, sorrow, happiness…. and India comes alive on the back of a simple black ubiquitous bicycle!

Post office in India has a long history.  Something that India can be truly proud of.  Here is some trivia for you (courtesy Rediff).

With 1,55,618 post offices and over 5,66,000 employees, India has the largest postal network in the world.

We can also boast of the world’s highest post office, Hikkim (pin code 172114). Located at 15,500 feet, Hikkim is part of the Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh.

And, if you’d like to know about one more postal record, the world’s first official airmail flight took place right here in India, on February 18, 1911. It was a journey that spanned 18 kilometres and lasted 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, ferried around 15 kilos of mail (approximately 6,000 letters and cards) across the Ganga, from Allahabad to Naini.

The journey was made in aid of charity, to help the Holy Trinity Church in Allahabad build a hostel.

A special postmark, First Aerial Post, was created for the event. Each mail had a surcharge of 6 annas.