Trust in a torn envelope

Post for everyone. The British postal system carried company mail between offices. After independence, India Post's aim was to reach the whole population: from 25,000 post offices in 1947 to over a lakh and a half today. Villagers even trust it with their monthly savings.

Why Khetaram took the job. A GDS must have another source of income, works five hours a day and may serve till 65. For Khetaram the job was a new lease of life: famine is 'a way of life' here, and in a good year one crop of bajra cannot feed his family of five. Many families live partly on money orders from relatives far away.

Why the post office matters. Mulk Raj Anand wrote that nowhere else do remote villagers depend so much on the post office for small sums of money. When a plan to replace the GDS with patwaris was proposed, it was rejected.

Welcome at every door. Khetaram reads letters aloud and writes replies for people who cannot. The BSF give him lifts and tea; villagers offer jaggery for news of births and weddings.

The letter he dreads. An envelope with its right corner torn off means news of a death. Such bad news cannot be carried into the house, so he stands outside, reads it twice, and tears it up. 'Bad news must be destroyed,' he says.

Today. After more than 15 years, he says his spine is strong, and he is glad a GDS may serve even after 60. He is ready to carry a cell phone as a Gramin Sanchar Sewak when the phone lines arrive.