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'Mail runners' going strong
even in information age

Baldev S Chauhan in Shimla

E-mail may have made calls by the postman less frequent in Indian cities, but the "mail runners" in the northern hill state of Himachal Pradesh are still very much in business.

The mail runners are the only means of communication in some of the remotest pockets of the state.

Locally called harkara, the runner in khaki, wearing the traditional Himachali cap and armed with a Biblical staff, a bell and a mailbag slung across the shoulder, is a welcome sight in inaccessible areas.

The runners cover long distances on foot across isolated river valleys and high mountains covered with snow. Their territory begins where the motorable roads end.

Without their services the mail may never be delivered in several remote villages perched atop ridges or nestling at the edge of icy brooks. The runners reach even ascetics living in caves.

Home to some of the highest habitations on earth, several parts of Himachal Pradesh remain cut off for up to six months a year due to deep snow over the high passes. Under such conditions, it is the runner who risks his life to carry mail from one destination to another.

The mail runners date back to the medieval ages when the Mughals ruled most of India But not until 1854 were they adopted by the Indian postal service.

The runner's tinkling bell breaks the breathtaking silence of the high country. The tinkling sometimes sets off a commotion, as the runner's arrival is a major event that breaks the monotony of everyday life in the high mountains.

"His work, though, isn't over with the mail delivery. He is also the roving reporter, the carrier of news from one village to another. It isn't uncommon for him to be an adviser to the tribal folk of Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Dodra-Kawar," says 81-year-old Sukh Das, who worked as a mail runner for decades.

The unlettered hill folk seldom let go of the runner immediately. They stop him to read out the letters.

These mail runners, who form the backbone of the postal network in the difficult areas of the state, are ironically placed in the lowest rung of the department ladder -- lowly paid and often denied several service benefits.

Chief Postmaster General Vijay Bhushan told IANS: "There are 1,719 mail runners in the state, out of which only 65 are full time employees."

Clearly, despite e-mail, the development of roads, laying of railroads and air links, the postal service will need the services of the mail runners for a long time to come.

Indo-Asian News Service

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