I am a postwoman, much like the postmen you must have seen and heard of while growing up. The profession was not planned for me. After I graduated with a degree in mathematics, my father said that there was nothing better than a government job. I applied to India Post and got accepted in 3 months. I had thought that it would be a desk job, but when they said that I have to deliver letters, I was totally taken aback.
Was The Only Girl Among 26 Delivery ‘Guys’
My parents were also hesitant initially because out of 26 delivery ‘guys’, I was the only girl. My family thought if their daughter would now have to roam around the entire day delivering letters, whereas, I wondered if people still wrote them. In my first month, I would walk for hours to deliver the letter, and I have met the sweetest people.
Once when an old aunty saw me, she said, “I did not know women deliver letters too”. She called me inside her house and offered me a glass of cold water. She even offered me some food, which I politely declined. The most heart-warming moment for me was when I was returning home after a tiring day, a young girl who lives close by to my house saw me and said, “Didi, I want to be a postwoman too”.
Delivering Letters Gives Me Peace
We are so wrong when we wonder if people even write letters anymore. Our post office is filled with letters of lovers expressing their emotions, letters of wives writing to their husbands who are at the border; letters of mothers who can’t wait to hug their kids again. I am proud of the work I do, and now, even my parents say that I can do anything.
Delivering letters gives me so much peace because I feel that in a way, I get to connect with people. There is no better feeling than experiencing the smile on the receiver’s face when they receive a letter from their loved ones. Writing a letter to your loved ones is not too ‘old fashioned’ or too ‘old school’.
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