Braving the forest and animals, postman Sivan has been befriending the wild and delivering letters
After 35 years of diligent postal service, postman Sivan is a familiar face to all the wild animals living in the forest area of Nilgiris’ Coonoor. As he passes by to deliver his batch of letters to the people residing in the forest, the animals just raise their heads and look to see who is the stranger passing by.. But as they spot Sivan, they get back to their own business.
For the past 10 years, Sivan starts his journey from the Hillgrove Post Office, walks for 15kms and returns home by 3pm. Sivan has always loved his job as he got to meet a lot of animals that we have heard or seen in National Geographic.
Sivan worked as a stamp vendor for 25 years at the post office before he was transferred as mail deliverer ten years ago.
Sivan recalls how he encountered a wild elephant, ate fig with bears, and the prayers he chant when he comes face-to-face with a wild animal. 65 year old Sivan retired as a postman on March 7, 2020 and almost 3 months after his retirement, Sivan is at the peak of his fame after an IAS officer tweeted about his professional life.
Sivan proudly says that he has taken the SLC exam under “There was once an old lady who would remind me every day about the pension money she was expecting. For six months this continued, and then suddenly one day the money arrived. It was only Rs 1,000 but I immediately left the office to bring her the good news. When I reached her house, I was beyond shocked to find out that she had died that day. It felt like my life went with her too,” he says.the new exam and passed though he had failed in a few subjects in the old SLC exam which is equivalent to the present 11th standard. Sivan was very dedicated to his job that he shared an instance.
“There was once an old lady who would remind me every day about the pension money she was expecting. For six months this continued, and then suddenly one day the money arrived. It was only Rs 1,000 but I immediately left the office to bring her the good news. When I reached her house, I was beyond shocked to find out that she had died that day. It felt like my life went with her too,” he was reported saying by the News Minute.
In 10 years of delivering letters tot he forest, he has not taken a day off and adds that no matter what the circumstances were, he made sure to deliver the letters. He also took the effort and time to track down a person by boarding a bus to as far as Coimbatore.
“Often, people relocate from the forest area to other places because it is a dangerous place to live. Once, one of the pensioners I was regularly delivering to fell ill and was admitted at the hospital in Coimbatore. I took the bus, delivered the amount to him and also gave him an extra Rs 100 for his expenses,” he shares.
Postman Sivan is a man of honour and justice to his job. Just google his name and you can see his many number of interviews.
