Occupation: ‘Outsider’ postwoman
I have been delivering the post in and around the PTP Nagar area for the past three and a half years now. Although my job is technically that of a postwoman, this is a temporary post and I am an ‘Outsider’. I will have to seek another job if this current post is filled.
Although I would love to be on the staff roll, I am 46 years old and have passed the age limit to apply for a permanent job here. I was helping out at the Thirumala Post Office when I heard of the vacancy at the PTP Nagar Post Office and grabbed it. There are four of us working at this post office. There is the Postmaster, a staff who helps unload the mail, a helper and myself. As I am not an employee of the Postal Department, I don’t need to wear a uniform.
I reach the Post Office by 8.15 am. The mail van arrives by 8.30 am. After the mail is unloaded and stamped, I sort them out and go for my delivery rounds by 10.30 am. While earlier I used to set out for the mail delivery rounds on foot, I bought a scooter to help with the rounds when I started developing shoulder pain from lugging the mail bag around. As the traffic around this neighbourhood is sparse I can drive my scooter with ease.
When I first started delivering the mail, I wasn’t familiar with the PTP Nagar layout. Now, I know the place like the back of my hand. It helps that I have moved to a rented house in the neighbourhood with my family. As I live in the neighbourhood and am the local postwoman, everyone knows me.
No, we no longer receive any letters to deliver; e-mails have taken over. Most of the mail I deliver are speed posts, book posts and parcels. During festive months, there is a pile of festive promotion booklets by jewellery dealers, fashion stores and the like to deliver. No, there are no Christmas cards or New Year greeting cards to be delivered. In fact, if I recall correctly, there were only five or six cards to be delivered last year.
I work six days a week, from Monday to Saturday. My day ends by 2.30 pm. Yes, I do have to work on ‘hartal days’ if the mail van comes in. I don’t feel wary of delivering the mail on such days; the neighbourhood is after all home. After work, I pick up my daughter, Aleena, from school and catch up on household chores. I assist with Aleena’s studies in the evening. My husband, B.M. Padmagiri, is an autorickshaw driver. He leaves in the morning by 8 am and returns home by 7.30 pm.
My family and I don’t go out much except to church on Sundays. I am from Kunnapuzha. My late father, N. Satyanesan, worked at St. Joseph Press. Although I was good at my studies and wanted to pursue my father’s dream of me becoming a nurse, I had to drop out off school after class 12 when my father passed away while I was in class 10. After dropping out of school, I held tuitions for the neighbourhood children until I got married.
Aleena says she wants to become a teacher when she grows up. I want her to fulfil her dreams and hope my job at the post office lasts until I see her settled in life.
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
