Pigeons to Post

Pigeons to Post by Steve Borgia  traces the story of the origin and the evolution India's postal history over a period of nearly two thousand years.

According to a write-up in the MoneyControl.com website, "Borgia travelled across India and the world to gather every bit of collectibles that would piece together the history of the country's postal history. Photographs of old postoffices, dilapidated post boxes dating back several hundred years, stamp printing presses that are now antiquated, he has it all."

Borgia is quoted as saying, ""Initially I wanted to display all the items I collected in a museum but the postal department stressed on the need for a book. The research and sourcing for the book has been going on for the past 15 years."

Borgia had to take help from British archives, retired post masters and books written by post generals before 1947 in order to get enough material about India's 'mail runners'.

"The mail-runner in earlier times not only carried people's messages but they also carried their emotions and hopes. The used to write and read out letters for people. They had a simple lifestyles compared to their British bosses and were the real backbone of the postal system," says Borgia,.

One of the highlights of the book according to Borgia is the section on line drawings on the mail runners fighting natural calamities like wild animals and flooded rivers for delivering the mails in time.

Borgia, 51, also runs a chain of hotels in South India. In them he has created small museums to display his various collections of philatelic material and objects.

To read the entire article, click here.

For more on the book and its author, click here.