Tome And Plume: Fragrance Of Bygone Era Still Emanates From Post Offices In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A letter is an unannounced visit, the postman the agent of rude surprises. One ought to reserve an hour a week for receiving letter and afterwards take a bath – Friedrich Nietzsche

A grey-haired man goes back to the bygone era as soon as he visits a post office in Bhopal. But he finds a few changes. The modern post offices in the city have earthen pots replaced with water coolers and coolers with air conditioners.

But the post offices in the nearby villages still have huge earthenware filled with water to quench the thirst of visitors in summer. Most of the post offices would run from high-ceiling rooms with heavy fans connected to the ceiling with long iron rods. The rooms had big windows. Such buildings have become rare, though not out of sight.

The head of a post office, called a postmaster, was given the task of taking care of the whole world’s circumstances or welfare, day after day. It was he, in whose treasure love letters, appointment letters, and money sent from one place to another would lie.

His chest was full of secrets that a man avoided committing to anyone. The people would trust a weak envelope to commit their secrets, and the postmaster used to guard them as a hen shuts all her ducklings under her wings.

The handwritten letters have become a thing of the past. Today, only a few offices accept handwritten letters. Other than post offices, there are a few institutions, like railways and banks that are so close to the hearts of Indians.

The post offices were primarily created for the dispatch and delivery of letters, but with the passage of time, it grew into a vast organisation.

They kept people’s correspondence, parcels and money and conducted communications through telegraph and telephone. Today, as digital communication has brought about a revolution in everybody’s life, it is difficult to think of such things.

How they have developed into modern post offices from the humble beginnings in the middle ages is a delightful story. In the days of Sher Shah Suri, there were post-horses and post boys to deliver letters.

Mail coaches were also in vogue, but they came into existence during British rule. Today, the country has mail trains and planes carrying letters, parcels and other documents.

The history of the postal services in Bhopal is more than 150 years old and reminds one of the distinct ways of communication the royals would go in for. The first post office was perhaps built at Jumerati when the 19th century was in its autumn. The building that housed the post office still stands today.

There are seven stamps pasted on the page from a late Victorian album, Bhopal, a Postal History. The stamps date back to the time of Shahjahan Begum of Bhopal, which she ruled from 1868 to 1901.

This indicates the members of the royal family were acquainted with postal services.

The Begums played an important role in modernising the postal services. Historical documents say the post office was set up in 1847 and served as the postal circle headquarters for the state.

The building, where the post office was established, has the influence of Hindu, Islamic and French architecture. Initially, it was a segment of the royal palace.

The Begums also introduced regular post offices with cash fees for a letter and the use of postage stamps. 

Nevertheless, the building that houses today’s GPO is relatively new. The government built the Dak Bhawan, as the GPO is now known, at the Arera Hill in 1980, though the MP Postal Circle Office was set up in Moti Mahal, a building on the premises of Sadar Manzil. The year was 1965.

But it was Nawab Sikandar Begum who began a free postal service for the common man.

The posts were slow. The roads in villages near the capital city were in a wretched condition for several decades. Travelling was risky, particularly in the rainy season, when an important letter took several days to reach its destination.

There were complaints of loss of money and against postmen for delaying the delivery of a letter. Still, the postal department was the only dependable source of communication. Despite all the complaints people had against the postmen, their arrival brought smiles to everyone.

Digital communication methods, like SMS, e-mail, the Internet and WhatsApp, are in vogue these days. Yet, the services rendered by the postmen are imprinted on the memory of those who have grey hair now.