“To write is human, to receive a letter: Divine!”
Letters. Post Office. To the Gen Z, these words may feel like something obsolete. To the Millennials and those before them, these may bring back memories of a long-forgotten art form and a bittersweet nostalgia for the letters they once wrote.
What if you were told that in this day and age, where post offices are just present for bureaucratic work, there lies an Indian post office in a faraway corner of Antarctica?
The Dakshin Gangotri Post Office was established under the Department of Post Office at Goa on January 26, 1988. Scientist G. Sudhakar Rao, who went to Antarctica as a member of the Seventh Indian Scientific Expedition in 1987, was appointed its first Honorary Postmaster. In the very first year of its foundation, almost 10,000 letters were posted and received in the Dakshin Gangotri post office.
As interesting as it sounds, the post office was invaluable from an operational point of view. During its lifetime, it functioned as a place for multiple support systems, an ice-melting plant, laboratories, storage, accommodation, recreation facilities, a clinic and a bank counter.
After six years of rigorous service, the administration decommissioned Dakshin Gangotri in 1990. The whole place got buried under the heavy blanket of snow and now serves as a historical site.
“Postman’s bag is always heavy because it carries the life itself: It carries all the sorrows and all the joys, all the worries and all the hopes!”
Thoughtful. Underrated. Special. A nice gesture. A method of reflection. A lost art. The presence of an Indian post office in Antarctica is a testament to how priceless handwritten letters are. Today, we still find old letters in boxes stored in our sheds and closets from families and friends. Somehow, opening a computer file does not work quite the same for nostalgia and fond memories.
On this day, on the Republic Day, in 1988, the Dakshin Gangotri Post Office came to life. To celebrate this important milestone in the history of communication, KarmaPlay brings a quiz on Communication technologies. Get your writing pads ready, as it is time to write letters to your brain!