Kaptipada: Sad as it might sound, post offices are becoming a thing of the past. With the arrival of mobile phone, internet, email, and money transfer via net, people can reach out to friends and relatives around the world in a matter of seconds and without any hassle. They could do this with the simple press of a few buttons.
This meant that the tradition of posting letters, money order etc is on its death-bed. Those were the days when people were unhappy if a postman failed to come home with letters. Now, they are rare sights.
The deep-red post boxes that once gave a special life to every village are now rarely seen, and where they are seen, they present themselves as anachronisms.
Similarly, the excitement in waiting for letters from one’s beloved persons, friends and family is fading away. Even kids now prefer mobile phones and hardly ever turn up at a post office. They do not know what a telegram meant or how it operated in the archaic form.
In Mayurbhanj district, there are 127 revenue villages under 26 panchayats of Kaptipada block alone. These post offices wear a deserted look as hardly anyone reaches there to post letters or send a parcel.
For some, however, old habits die hard. A few men and women of the old generation still hold a fancy to posting letters and receiving them too. There still are letter lovers who walk kilometres to reach a post office. There, however, the use of post cards, inland letters, envelopes and stamps is slowly declining.
The government hardly does anything to rev up the post offices with new ideas or turn the nationwide network more useful in the modern contexts. Taking full advantage of this disinterest are the courier services run by private entities.
They manage to reach things faster and in a more reliable manner, while post offices transact business at snail’s pace. Most post offices are manned by middle-aged men and women, while courier services get their energy from the youthful workforce.
By contrast, there is no guarantee that a Speed Post delivery would take place in a matter of a few days. When it started 30 years ago, the offer had been that delivery would be done in a day or two.
Postal staff today shows more interest in red-inspired unionism and less in their work, it is alleged.
On the other hand, a problem however is that the courier centres are exploiting the situation and charging hefty sums for their services. This is because dependence on them is increasing by the day and post offices remain as snail mail centres.
