None of the romance that 92-year-old Francis Xavier Gomez, a resident of Peter Celli Street, associates with the post office in Fort Cochin remains. “I was a romantic fellow then and used to write a lot of love letters. So it was an important place for me,” he says with a glint in his eye of the post office that is over a century old.
Patricia D’souza, his daughter, puts things realistically. “The lives of all the people of Fort Cochin were connected with the post office. It was the busiest place then.” Her memories are of people standing in long orderly queues and their talks centering on inland letters, parcels, money orders, stamps and telegrams. A memory that comes to old Mr. Gomez’ mind is of the image of the wax seal stamp, of the rhythmic sound of the stamping of post, and of ticking machines. “It must be Morse Code,” he says. He also remembers stories talked among young school boys, his friends, of a “smoking well” on the premises.
“There was a well,” says George Maraparambil, 75, who worked at the post office from 1952 till 1993 and retired as HSC2 or Assistant Post Master. His father Joseph worked there from 1917, for 33 years, till 1950, but the reminiscences George has are few and far between. A few critical points he makes are that the building structure has remain unchanged since the time his father worked there and of post being carried on the head at one point in time
Antony Thommen, local historian and author of Fort Cochin - The Heritage City of God’s Own Country - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow says “most buildings in the heritage zone, in which the post office is, find mention in K.L. Bernard’s History of Fort Cochin . According to the book: Portuguese mail from Goa, Daman, Diu and from Malaysia came to Cochin for sorting and despatch. Their Head Post Office was attached to the San Antonio monastery, east of St. Francis Church where now the present Head Post Office is situated. Francis Xavier S.J. came to Cochin a dozen times to write long letters to Ignatius Loyola, the Pope and the Portuguese king between 1542 and 1552. The mail ship, well guarded would leave Cochin once in three months. The arrival of mail ship from Europe was a great event in Cochin.
Antony who takes tourists in the area on heritage walks says the post office building is a landmark. “We believe this is 500 years old. The seminary adjacent to the post office became the Boots India Pure Drug Company in the 50s.” Official records show that the building came in possession of the postal department in 1922-23.
Mabel D’çruz, 68, retired as HSG1 Post Master from Fort Kochi Post Office. She says that till 1982 a postman would bring mail from Vypeen by handcart, in a function called Extra Departmental Mail Carrier (ED Mail Carrier). The mail van was used to carry mail to RMS or Railway Mail Service. This mail motor service was extended to Vypeen when the ferry to the island began.”
Mabel used to work in the accounts department and remembers her office being shifted due to paucity of space and increased work to a rented premises, house belonging to Dr. CSK Nair, three to four houses away. Till then the first floor of the post office was the residence of the Head Post Master. The office was ‘dequarterised’ in 1985 and her office brought back to this building.
Apart from the regular cultural get togethers and P&T Recreational Club activities she remembers the function held at the release of a commemorative stamp in honour of Frank Anthony in 2003.
Former Mayor and history buff K.J. Sohan says that the area is Pincode One, hence this was perhaps the oldest post office. “It was the most protected area in the British days, because it handled military mail. The building was rebuilt approximately 70 years ago, and has remained so since.” He too reiterates that in the days of yore the post office was the hub of activities.
“For some reason there were many Pathans, from Pattalam area, and Anglo Indians working in this post office. There were runner postmen then. There was a famous post man by the name of Hashim Khan.
K.P. Mani, worked as a postman from 1990 till 2013. He says that the building was re-plastered and its flooring changed to ceramic tiles in his time. Earlier it had terracotta flooring and teak counters for sorting and receiving. “They shone impressively but were changed to glass and aluminium fabricated furniture.” He also remembers playing rounds of carom, ludo and such in the common room behind.
As it stands today, looped by three roads- Ridsdale, Bastian Street and Quirose, behind St. Francis Church, the colonial bungalow-style post office with arched verandah and bay windows has now functional interiors. Though modern materials have replaced antique furniture the central hall retains a period feel clearly evident in the sorting room behind where a cabinet with trophies and cups won by P&T Recreational Club remains.
The pigeon hole counters for sorting post and erstwhile postage materials remain as delightful vestiges of time gone by.
E-Post, banking services, availability of gangajal , insurance services and such are the new facilities here. An ATM counter is soon to be put up in keeping with changed times but the red pillar post box at the entrance stands as a show piece of what has been.
