You've got mail. And a doctor will deliver it
By: Varun Singh
Mid-Day Date: 2010-02-07

An examination held by the GPO to select candidates for the job of a postman received unprecedented response, some of it from vets and IT professionals

The General Post Office (GPO), Mumbai is spoilt for choice, and your next letter could very well be delivered by an MBA graduate or a qualified veterinarian. In October last year, when the GPO invited applications during a recruitment drive for postmen, it received 1.21 lakh entries for 436 vacancies. Some of the candidates who have got through for the post that requires little other than an SSC degree, include an IT professional pursuing a masters degree, a vet and a physics graduate. GPO officials claim they have a tough time shortlisting candidates.

Currently pursuing a Masters in IT, Sachin Pangale was unable to land a job for over a year. A short stint at a low-paying BPO later, he has bagged the job of a postman. "It's a secure job, and I don't mind working with the post office. Having a job is better than doing nothing," shrugs the 23-year-old who claims to have appeared for the exam with MBA graduates, civil engineering degree and PhD holders.

Mayur Vichare (22) may have scored 70.87 per cent in BSc (physics), a score he believed would land him a job comfortably, but recession hit hard and he was unemployed for a year. Roaming from one home to another is hardly a deterrent he says, when you know you have a job that'll withstand another economic slowdown.

According to M S Bali, Chief Postmaster General, the volume of personal letters might have gone down but the volume of professional mails have shot by a huge margin. On an average there are more than one lakh letters that are circulated within the city and more than 1.50 lakh speed posts are sent every day within the city.

And this seems to work for qualified veterinarian Dr Ketan Dalavi (25), who cleared the GPO exam. He sees himself as an IAS officer and believes the postman job will leave him with adequate time for academic preparation for the civil service exam. "I am a doctor, but that doesn't mean I can't work as a postman. I am going to enjoy my job," says Dalavi, who found the examination paper "challenging".

Number crunching

Rs 12,000: the monthly salary these postmen will receive
3,900: total number of postmen currently employed in Mumbai

The Indian Postal Service

Has over 155,333 post offices and is reportedly the only postal service in the world which is so widely distributed. China comes second with approximately 57,000 centres