A Forgotten Post Box at Adiala Road
By Rasheed Ahmad
Rawalpindi
Days have gone when postboxes of Pakistan Post were considered integral part of our life before introduction of modern courier services and cellular phone technology.
Now ground realities have changed and the utility of these postboxes have also become almost a forgotten history.
A postbox of Pakistan Post placed alongside Adiala Road, Dhaman Mor near Shair Zaman Plaza is the reflection of state of affairs of these boxes nowadays.
The postbox mounted near the electric pole is itself in deplorable condition which has also developed rust inside it.
The days are history when letters used to be deposited in it so there is no need to keep it locked.
It was used to be unlocked on certain time as the inscription on it suggests but as there are no mail in it so there is no need to keep it locked.
No one deposit letters in it and no one collect the mail from this box on behalf of Pakistan Post. Postal services have changed a lot recently and these letterboxes are at the receiving end.
These boxes which are also known as pillar boxes were used by the general public to deposit letters in it. Later on the designated officials of the department used to collect them and sort them out to make their delivery to addressed places.
It’s believed that they were first time installed in 1653 in and around Paris. By 1829 postboxes were in use throughout France.
In British Isles the first red pillar postboxes were installed in Guernsey in 1852. Later on they were also installed in India which was the colony of United Kingdom.
These boxes were still in use by the end of twentieth century but gradually their usefulness started declining and ultimately they turned redundant. Now they just remind us as what sort of system the postal services of the past used to have.
(The author, Rasheed Ahmad is photojournalist of Rawalpindi)
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