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Thursday, August 26, 2010

West Bengal: The post

West Bengal: The post
Past The Last Post
In remotest Bengal the 'runner' of old exists still, with his burden of news and fortitude
Dola Mitra
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266779

Oh, Runner...
No one will ever know of your pain or your plight/
Your story will be a secret of the dark black night

— from the Bengali poem 'Runner' by Sukanta Bhattacharya

Actually, it's a bright sunny day on top of a hill in the rolling, forested landscape of Ayodhya Pahar in Bengal's Purulia district, and 60-year-old Putuna Mura, a local tribal, seems only too willing to share her story with us—a runner's story. Putuna is a surviving relic of this virtually defunct institution whose roots lie deep in the country's postal past. In Bengal, the tribulations of these tireless messengers, traversing miles on foot, their bells jangling through the stillness of the night, delivering mail in remote regions and covering stipulated distances within strict timeframes, have for long fired the imagination of artists, writers and poets like Sukanta Bhattacharya. In Putuna's case, the story has a special twist, not only is she one of the state's three surviving runners—she is also the only woman known to have ever become a runner.

Explains Purulia division's assistant superintendent of post, Gautam Ghosh: "She was given the job on sympathetic grounds when her husband, Buddheshwar, who was a runner, died 20 years ago." At first, Putuna's life turned topsy-turvy. She had to suddenly switch from being an ordinary housewife who cooked, cleaned and looked after children to, in her own words, "a postman going from door to door delivering letters". But two decades on, not only is she used to the drill, hill folk too are no longer shocked at the sight of a woman in white—being a widow, she wears only white—sprinting across dense forests and deep rivers in rain and sunshine alike, to deliver mail. And sometimes in the moonlight too: "like a ghost", she says eerily.


Nightrunner of Bengal Putuna Mura, widow of a runner, covers a minimum of 20-30 km a day, often braving bandits and wild beasts (Photograph by Sandipan Chatterjee)

No matter how late she goes to bed, Putuna wakes up at the crack of dawn and leaves the house by 7 am sharp. She steps out of her little mud hut in Ayodhya village and hops across to the tiny post office beyond the dirt road. She reports to the postmaster, who scribbles the names on postcards and envelopes piled up on a table into his register, stamps the mail with his seal and puts it into a jute sack, which he hands over to Putuna. She places it over her shoulder, looks at the clock on the wall, mutters a "7:10 already" under her breath and struts out of the door and into the street. There are 22 villages across Ayodhya Hills, each a cluster of no more than 10 to 20 houses. But the villages are separated by long stretches of dense forests, deep rivers and wide valleys. Putuna walks a minimum of 20-30 km a day, often much more. If there are too many letters and too much distance to be covered, she leaves some of the work for the next day, but that is not encouraged—the mail could be urgent. "Today, I have to cover 17 destinations, and the distances between each are long," she says stoically, as she gets into her stride.

"Yes, I get scared sometimes," she admits, as she makes her way. "There is much to fear in the jungles and hills," she whispers. "Snakes, elephants, often even bears." For runners, the other source of terror, traditionally, has been bandits and dacoits. As the Ayodhya branch post master Bibekananda Mahato explains, the threat is accentuated because they carry money orders, apart from ordinary mail. "Many of the hill folk have relatives living outside who send money home. Runners could be attacked and looted."

 

 

The inaccessible Ayodhya Hills area is a Maoist hub. Runners won't want to rub them the wrong way.
 

 
However, the biggest danger right now, in the Ayodhya Hills, is Maoist activity, of which this region is a hub. No runner would want to rub the Maoists the wrong way, says Putuna, who tries her best to avoid them and do her job quickly. The presence of Maoists is not new in Purulia, especially its Ayodhya Hills region. Surrounded by porous borders and covered in dense forests, it is one of the country's most remote regions in terms of accessibility by road or rail, which makes it virtually a haven for the insurgents. As Rakesh Kumar, director of General Post Office, South Bengal, explains, "It is this very inaccessibility which makes runners a necessity even in this day and age. As you know, the designation has been done away with in most other parts of the country."

Indeed, Putuna is not the only runner operating in the region—there are two others. Sixty-five-year-old Kalipada Mura has been a runner since the death of his famous father, Khepu Mura. Khepu, a runner during the Raj, became a legend for his bravery in confronting  dangers, be they wild beasts or bandicoots. Kalipada's colleague, 60-year-old Anath Sardar, is also the son of a former runner from the region, Dhananjoy Singh Sardar. But, unlike Putuna, these two don't deliver mail person-to-person or door to door, but lug their mail bags from postal point to postal point. Each of them walks 30 to 50 km per day to reach these outposts. While Putuna, being literate and able to read names and addresses, gets a monthly salary of Rs 6,000, the two men, illiterate like their fathers were, are paid daily wages—Rs 200 a day—for their labour.

So far the job seems to have been transferred seamlessly, from husband to wife, from father to son, but will future generations want to carry on this tradition? The answer, from the sons, daughters and grandchildren of all three runners, is a firm "no." "Too dangerous," is the common refrain. So how will the people of Ayodhya Hills get their letters after the current generation of runners is too old to carry on? That's a question for the authorities to mull over; the runners themselves are content to be a vital link with the world beyond. The more affluent villagers have begun to acquire mobile connections, but these are unreliable. And most villages don't have electricity—those which do have only a few TV-owning households. Letters, therefore, are vital. "I bring smiles to people's faces when I bring them good news," Putuna says proudly. It's true. Twenty-five year old Suchitra Hansa is delighted when Putuna hands her a much-awaited envelope. "It's from the state government. I've been called for a job interview," says this wife of a local school teacher. But 18-year-old Shidhu Soren, who has applied for a clerk's job, is still waiting for a reply. "Is there a letter from me?" he calls out to Putuna, when he bumps into her on her run. "Not yet," Putuna shakes her head. "But maybe tomorrow." That's mles away.

West Bengal: The post
Outlook


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Celebrating Mother Teresa's Birth Centenary



Cover Story


EXCLUSIVE
intelligence security breaches
India's defence data could be an open secret. Ask the NTRO bosses who lost their laptops.

Features



health: ndm-1
The superbug's name is no issue, India must focus on combating drug resistance
opinion
The CWG worker is as much a slave today as his Asiad parents were
mumbai: environment
Grim tidings from the Mumbai oil spill
media: privacy
An interim order from the SC on reporting sparks off important questions

National


bjp: strategy
The BJP looks to play the Congress's aam aadmi card against it
Environment: policy
A proactive minister puts Paryavaran Bhavan in focus. The development dauphins are aflutter.
opinion
Four years on, and the UPA's promise of police reforms is barely in sight


International


EXCLUSIVE
william dalrymple in afghanistan
As the Great Game repeats itself, India must wake up to Karzai's new moves
diplomacy: nepal
Nepal's fractious polity fumbles for a solution. India, as a cohering agent, has a high stake in it.


Society


heritage: museums
A UNESCO report on eight national museums comes as no surprise
West Bengal: The post
In remotest Bengal the 'runner' of old exists still, with his burden of news and fortitude
revival: old board games
Traditional board games make a comeback courtesy a few enthusiasts


Sports


Poll sutra
I now hear Mahesh Bhatt is threatening to make a sci-fi film on my miserable life (working title: Shera—a 2010 Games Odyssey)


Arts & Entertainment


film: Endhiran
The costliest Indian film, a Rajni-Ash starrer with international collaborations. Will it work?


Books


review
Two books offer no insight into the enigma of 1857, but, laudably, listen in on marginalised voices and oral lores
Mushirul Hasan on Besieged: Voices From Delhi, 1857 Compiled and Edited by Mahmood Farooqui & 1857: The Oral Tradition By Pankaj Rag
review
The novel as a whole seems to have been assembled in a prolonged fit of inattention
Alok Rai on The Pleasure Seekers By Tishani Doshi
review
Quirky, bright and eccentric, Indian Poirot Vish Puri finds it as hard to pass up a "good murder" as go without lunch.
Sunil Mehra on The Case Of The Man Who Died Laughing By Tarquin Hall



Features


film: Endhiran
Platinum Man's Dance
The costliest Indian film, a Rajni-Ash starrer with international collaborations. Will it work?
Pushpa Iyengar



revival: old board games
Pallanguzhi Days
Traditional board games make a comeback courtesy a few enthusiasts
Neha Bhatt



West Bengal: The post
Past The Last Post
In remotest Bengal the 'runner' of old exists still, with his burden of news and fortitude
Dola Mitra



heritage: museums
Exhibit 'A': Shame
A UNESCO report on eight national museums comes as no surprise
Prarthna Gahilote



opinion
Appu And Shera
The CWG worker is as much a slave today as his Asiad parents were
Jyoti Punwani



regulars


showtime
Peepli [Live]
There are repetitive strands and loose ends which ask for explanations but eventually it makes a point and poignantly at that.
Namrata Joshi



Last Page
Istanbul Diary
India or Pakistan, they ask you as you are bargaining in the Grand and Spice Bazaars. When I say India, they say, 'Ah, Hindoostan? I love you'...
Ratna Rao Shekhar



People
Glitterati
The page 3 people, the chatterati and those in the news for being in the news



10 questions
Owais Husain
The artist son of painter-in-exile M.F. Husain on his first exhibition in Mumbai in a decade
Snigdha Hasan



gossip
Polscape
Random notes, gossip, bitching, angles, conspiracy theories, spoofs, essential fundas

--

Web
Thursday, August 26, 2010 Click to toggle view



Policing
'We need to revisit standard operating procedures and crowd control measures to deal with public agitations with non-lethal, yet effective and more focused measures. We also cannot have an approach of one size fits all'
Manmohan Singh
'Saffron Terror'
(1) A thorough investigation of the pending cases (2) Reconciliation of the differences in the Mecca Masjid case (3) Action against those who encourage openly or covertly acts of reprisal against our Muslim co-citizens.
B. Raman
Wikileaks
The CIA's 'Red Cell' memo cites several cases of alleged terrorist acts by US citizens, including Pakistani-American David Headley

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Click to toggle view



View From The USA
How a modest project by a mainstream US Muslim group backed by the New York City mayor and unanimously approved by the city community committee has been transformed into a general attack on Muslim rights
Gary Leupp
Policing
'The home ministers refers to the 'recently uncovered phenomenon' that 'has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past' while cautioning that the threat of terrorist attacks has not gone away'
P. Chidambaram
Flood Relief
The secular Awami National Party (ANP) led government of Khyber Pakhtunkwa and the nationalist organizations of Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan issue separate, direct appeals to international community
B. Raman


Tuesday, August 24, 2010 Click to toggle view



Opinion
The Great Ground Zero Mosque Divide: Both conservatives and liberals draw wrong conclusions. The failure to find common ground weakens both the West's culture of individual rights and the struggle against radical Islam
Sadanand Dhume
Opinion
There are important lessons from the tragedy in Manila on August 23, 2010, which led to the death of eight tourists due to the irrational behaviour of a dismissed police officer
B. Raman

Experts Speak


Monday, August 23, 2010 Click to toggle view

From The Blogs
From the Indo-Pak baggage, through the righteous indignation of the faithful, conspiracy theories of the usual suspects, and poetic flourishes of folk wisdom, to some real insight and empathy
Sundeep Dougal
From The Blogs
Himal Southasian fund collection drive in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal to support the ongoing relief efforts in Pakistan
Buzz

Counterpoint
It is a crisis, not of politics or of economics. The widespread impression that the present disturbances represent a popular uprising, or that 'things are worse than they were in the early 1990s' is utterly misconceived
Ajit Kumar Singh


Friday, August 20, 2010 Click to toggle view

From The Blogs
That is the estimated cost of print advertisements alone on Rajiv Gandhi's birth and death anniversaries since UPA came to power
Sundeep Dougal

Opinion
Indian tennis stars have shamed the nation. They have threatened to pull out of the Commonwealth Games simply because authorities refuse to pay them their dues...
Rajinder Puri
View From Britain
Hip hop jabs at Muslim politics. Young Muslims are searching for alternative avenues of political expression and mobilization – iPods firmly in hand.
Peter Mandaville
View From Israel
Once upon a time, when a Japanese leader took responsibility for failure, he stuck a knife into his belly – it was called Hara-kiri ("belly cutting"). Now those responsible resign, but not in Israel...
Uri Avnery


Thursday, August 19, 2010 Click to toggle view



Opinion
Look on the Wikileaks site and read a Ministry of Defence document that describes the "threat" of real journalism. And so it should be: a threat. State stenography is not journalism.
John Pilger
State Snippets
It may have been named after Delhi, but the outrage over the Superbug is no less in Chennai. All of it concerned only about medical tourism, it would seem...
Pushpa Iyengar
Comment
The recent reports are largely about ISI's internal-threat perceptions from its Jihadi Frankenstein's monsters. Reliable sources in Pakistan confirm that there is no change in perceived external threats
B. Raman


More...
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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