This post office in Kerala delivers mail to God

[V.Balasubramani]

Share:

Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp Email Share Link

This post office in Kerala delivers mail to God

It is a unique post office, and one of its main tasks is to deliver letters to God.

Located near the famed Hindu temple at the Sabarimala hills, the post office may perhaps be the only one in the country which doesn't work round the year. It comes alive when the peak pilgrimage season of the Ayyappa shrine begins on the first day of the Malayalam month in November, and the period ends towards the middle of January.

The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season.

Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G. Prakash, have a lot to do.

Prakash is happy to be here, and says he was a devotee of Lord Ayyappa.

"Our post office mostly gets invitation cards for weddings and shop openings addressed to Lord Ayyappa, obviously to seek divine blessings," Prakash told IANS.

Most such mail come from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

But the three letter boxes kept in the temple complex get more than post cards and envelopes. Every morning, the staff find scores of identity cards and wallets too in them.

"We make it a point to mail these cards to the individuals concerned," Prakash said. The employees often spend their own money to do this.

"Since this season began, I have posted close to 20 PAN cards to the income tax office."

Police say all this is the work of pickpockets who operate in the temple town -- crowded during the pilgrimage season.


Read more at: This post office in Kerala delivers mail to God : India, News - India Today

 

[P.J.]

Mail delivered to God

Mail delivered to God


This Post Office Only Works For 3 Months, And It Delivers Mail To God




If believers are right, the mail sent via this post office in Sabarimala goes to only one person - God. Located at the Sabrimala temple, it only takes mail during the Ayyappa shrine pilgrimage season, on the first day of November. The period ends towards the middle of January.


During this time, six employees work 12 hour shifts 6 days a week starting at 8 in the morning. 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, an Ayappa devotee, leads the postmen of God. "Our post office mostly gets invitation cards for weddings and shop openings addressed to Lord Ayyappa, obviously to seek divine blessings." said Prakash.


The temple gets this mail from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Along with the usual postcards and envelopes, it isn't new for them to spot identity cards and wallets in the letter boxes kept in the temple complex.
"We make it a point to mail these cards to the individuals concerned. Since this season began, I have posted close to 20 PAN cards to the income tax office," Prakash added. But this isn't some hope for better income tax returns. Local pickpockets dump emptied wallets in these post boxes, and the temple employees then spend their own money to mail these back to the concerned people.


To get to the temple is an act of faith - it's a 4 km uphill hike from Pamba in Pathanamthitta district to the temple, which is located in the Western Ghats mountain range. You can buy a special pictorial cancellation stamp of the 18 steps leading to the Ayyappa shrine as a souvenir. Pilgrims can also post the temple 'prasad'. Everyday, 3 of the employees walk down hill carrying the outgoing mail, and bring back mail addressed to Lord Ayyappa.

This Post Office Only Works For 3 Months, And It Delivers Mail To God

 

[Raji Ram]

The bhakthas know how to make things easy!

Instead of going all the way to the God's alter and keeping the wedding card and get His blessings, they post it to him!