Postman

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POSTMAN Madhav took shelter at a snacks centre and ordered lemon juice to quench his thirst. He had just completed delivering letters for the day and on his way home, sat down to rest. Ram came with the juice and asked him if there were any letters from his brother. Madhav denied and continued drinking the juice. Ram wanted to look into Madhav’s bag but it was empty. Madhav paid the money to Ram and left.

Madhav was the postman of Behrampur for past 23 years and had seen its good and bad days. Although a lot of postmen came but none could build a rapport with the people of Behrampur as much as Madhav did. He was offered the job of a postmaster after the death of his father and Madhav still used the same bicycle which his father used. From someone’s selection letter to someone else’s rejection letter, Madhav had seen it all. He was often offered sweets whenever he brought some good news and consoled others in case of tragedy. Madhav had a son, Mohan, who stayed in town for his higher studies. Mohan’s letters to Madhav often contained pleas for retirement as he thought Madhav’s job required lot of manual activity which could be removed if internet came to Behrampur.

Madhav straight ahead rejected his plea stating nothing could replace the joy he feels after seeing the smiling faces of people and he would continue doing so as long as his body permits him to. Moreover, he wasn’t too pleased with the idea of internet taking over the charm of hand-written letters and feared this could take away the simple joys of day-to-day life.

Madhav was to complete 25 years as a postman and was on his way to deliver letters as usual when he saw a huge piece of white cloth whose ends were tied to trees. Before he could realize anything, a video was played where the entire village had congratulatory messages for Madhav. Internet had reached Beharampur and the video ended with Mohan saying “Time to retire Dad. Finally.”

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