Thursday, August 25, 2011

Karma in the Time of Turbulence -I


In the charged atmosphere at the Ramlila Maidan, in the midst of all the high decibel activity, Satish Chand, a postman from the Indra Prastha Post Office of New Delhi has quietly been delivering mail every day to none other than Anna Hazare.

It is a huge crowd, and it is in thrall. Locating anyone in the middle of all this is next to impossible. But the cell phone helps. And Satish Chand with his postman instincts efficiently guides me over the phone to himself, even as he steadily progresses through the dense gathering from the main gate at one end of the Ramlila Maidan to the raised stage at the other.

Satish has the postman bag safely clutched in his hand. Today he has letters only for one person. The addressee is seated on the elevated stage at the Maidan. He is on a protest fast, and all activity within visible distance is centred on him. His name is Anna Hazare.

“Though the fast has been on for ten days, mail started flowing in only from the third day”, says Satish, in cultured Hindi. He along with his colleague Dharam Pal has been delivering letters, registered letters, money orders and Speed Post shipments every day since then. I am unnerved by the thought being at work in the midst of such a massive gathering, and in such an emotionally charged environment. “Don’t you feel scared”, I ask, “more so since you are a uniformed government servant finding your way through a gathering which is protesting against the government?”

“No saab”, smiles Satish. His conviction is strong and simplicity, disarming. “The dakiya is welcome everywhere, even in protest marches. I just tell people I am carrying mail for Anna Hazare, and they make way for me. No one has created any problem.”

“But these are not normal working conditions”, I insist.  He thinks over and agrees. Reaching the elevated stage from the main gate itself takes 45 minutes. There are many checks and searches in between. “My work is simple, saab”, he explains. “I have to find the right addressee and hand over his mail. It makes no difference how much I have to wait, or whether I have to walk long in the sun. My duty is complete when all the mail pieces are distributed to the right recipients”. 
(Continued in Part II)
- PN Ranjit Kumar
The writer is Director (Global Business) at India Post. The views are personal.

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful , touching. Its reminds me the unique position captured by the Postman and Post Office across the globe. Be it kind hearted legendary Ravindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand, or P.L.Deshpande (famous marathi writer) or be tough dictators , all accepted and admirers, the valuable place of PostOffices in the heart, mind of peoples . The wonderful touching words of Postman Satish are contemporary examples of it....
    “No saab”, smiles Satish. His conviction is strong and simplicity, disarming. “The dakiya is welcome everywhere, even in protest marches. I just tell people I am carrying mail for Anna Hazare, and they make way for me. No one has created any problem.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful , touching. Its reminds me the unique position captured by the Postman and Post Office across the globe. Be it kind hearted legendary Ravindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand, or P.L.Deshpande (famous marathi writer) or be tough dictators , all accepted and admirers, the valuable place of PostOffices in the heart, mind of peoples . The wonderful touching words of Postman Satish are contemporary examples of it....
    “No saab”, smiles Satish. His conviction is strong and simplicity, disarming. “The dakiya is welcome everywhere, even in protest marches. I just tell people I am carrying mail for Anna Hazare, and they make way for me. No one has created any problem.”

    ReplyDelete