From dhotis and turbans to baseball caps perhaps? A brief history of India Post’s uniforms
Postmen have been an intrinsic part of India's landscape. However, soon their khaki uniforms may give way to the brighter teal.
There was a time,
not too long ago, when the khaki-clad postman with his satchel bursting
with postcards and letters was the most popular visitor to any
residential area.
Besides delivering telegrams to anxious
recipients, and letters to families awaiting news from loved ones, the
daakiya, as the postman is referred to in Hindi, was also privy to the
secrets of many families, often having to read out letters to many of
his illiterate customers.
The postman was a beloved figure in
literature and popular culture too. In a short story by the chronicler
of small-town India, RK Narayan, a postman held out on delivering bad
news to a family so that a joyous wedding could go on without a glitch.
In
Bollywood, postmen jauntily rode around on bicycles, and the trring of
their bells drew people out of their homes to check if the mailman had
anything for them. A popular song, Daakiya daak laaya, sung by Kishore Kumar, featured Rajesh Khanna as the beloved postman in the film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein. Battle for relevance Today,
the postman seems an anachronism, struggling to stay relevant in the
era of WhatsApp, email and private courier services that offer overnight
trackable deliveries.
That’s perhaps one of the reasons why India Post has decided to smarten up its postmen with a proposal
to replace the old-fashioned khaki with a more appealing colour, which
is most likely to be teal, or blue-green. As part of this makeover,
postmen are also likely to be armed with smartphones and tablets during
deliveries. All this is part of India Post’s efforts to be more
competitive in a logistics market driven by technology.
But this
is not the first time India Post has attempted a makeover. In 2004, when
the Indian Postal Service completed 150 years in India, the colour of
its uniforms were changed to blue. However, the change didn’t last long.
Khaki uniforms were reintroduced in 2012 after postmen protested. They
felt that khaki gave their profession a sense of importance, and taking
that away was like erasing their identity.
It’s not clear if the latest makeover proposal has addressed that fear.
Evolution of the postman
In
any case, khaki wasn’t always the colour postmen donned. Even the
design of postal uniforms has changed several times over the years with
earlier mailmen wearing dhotis and turbans.
In a book titled The Post Office of India and its Story, published in 1921, author Geoffrey Clarke wrote how the uniform was a badge of honour for most postal employees. Clarke wrote:
“It
adds a certain amount of dignity to him and, like the soldier, he is
the better man for having a distinctive badge of office.”
He added:
“There
[wasn’t] any uniformity even in each circle about the uniforms supplied
by Government. In one town red coats and blue turbans were seen, in
another khaki coats and nondescript turbans, while the men who supplied
themselves with uniforms presented at times the most extraordinary
appearance. The pattern of postmen’s uniform has now been standardized
for each circle….”
Earlier, uniforms were more elaborate with mailmen decked in long, ink blue overcoats, red turbans and a belt.
The image of a postman from Coleman's, 'Typical Pictures of Indian Natives' (1897). (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).In his book, titled Typical Pictures of Indian Natives (1897), Frank Morris Coleman wrote:
"The
familiar ‘rat-tat’ of the English postman is unknown in India, possibly
because there are no knockers, and in many cases no doors. But we hear
in its stead the remark of the butler, as he brings us our morning dak
or English mail. 'Chitti hai…Government provides the men with a good
serviceable blue dungaree uniform, and a waterproof cape during the
monsoon. Sandals are worn more often than boots, and, when the rains
arrive, the trousers are exchanged for knicker-bockers."
A stamp commissioned in 2012 and displayed at the Bihar Stamp Expo in 2012.
In some parts of India, it was common to see postmen dressed in turbans and crisp dhotis. Over the years, the dhotiwas
abandoned for trousers and the turban gave way to Nehru caps. Now, if
the latest proposal goes through, India’s postmen may soon sport
baseball caps.
A postman photographed in Bombay, 1905. (Photo credit: Pinterest).
The Indian postman in 1910. (Photo credit: Pinterest).
A Bhil postman in 1900 (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).Source : http://scroll.in/bulletins/7/new-survey-reveals-what-india-gets-right-and-wrong-about-living-a-fulfilled-life
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