I Can't Help It: My Celeb Crush

It was the day after the diwali the holiday, there was a knock at my door, and I see this vaguely familiar man at the door

“Bai, tappal Ge” now tappal to me is typical Kannada word, I discover this is a migrant postman. I have never seen him in my two years of stay at the quarters; my letters are delivered to my husband’s department. There are times when speed posts have been lying on the tray for about a week. I don’t receive them since my husband is out of station. So this knock surprises me.

“Diwali ge bai,” its diwali madam, he looks at me expectantly.

Now I realize what he wants he wants his diwali tip. I was furious”voi”and slammed the door. The temptation to go a kick a ruckus is always there, but then this man is out of norm while in my 20yrs of stay in goa, tells me another story.

This was when I started my clinic at Taleigao, the postman would wave”doteur” to me and”bai ” to my three year old daughter who did not understand a word of what he said. He would reach my clinic at 12 noon; initially to deliver letters slowly I would drop in even otherwise drink a glass of water and carry on.

One day he showed me a notepaper folded and a random address written in Kannada

,”doteur,kite bairaile?”

I read out the address then out of politeness I enquired can you find the guy. He told me I have to some child might be writing to a parent or a parent might be enquiring after a child. He said sometimes it the money orders, I think of all the sacrifices that must have gone into earning that money.

The geographic area is not larger but we have flats now, the number of houses greater, the distances how have to also be climbed, dogs, watchman, sun and rain this main relentlessly goes to deliver the mail.

To us who have our laptops and fax machine it might sound silly, we are willing to pay that $XYZ equivalent to the FedEx couriers but when it comes to the postman we never stop to wonder how little this guy is paid.

Education would be high school; his salary is that of an unskilled labour.

Yet the service he renders is Yeoman.

To me he is the true hero.