When amateur filmmaker Anil Dhir decided to make a documentary film on the only horse drawn mail cart in the country, little did he imagine that it would not only shake the conscience of viewers but the entire postal department. A finance professional, he had stumbled upon this human interest story through his interest in philately. Fuelled by curiosity, he made a trip to Jeypore – a small scenic town in southern Orissa – to meet this unique tonga driver. Moved by the plight of the person trapped in an unenviable situation had led Anil to research on the topic and what amazed him was that despite the rapid advances made in communications and instant mail, the postal department had forged ahead leaving behind a silent worker slogging away for a pittance and at a snail’s pace.
Aptly titled The Last Post, the film tells the story of a man (Nila Nayak) who has been transporting mail bags from the post office to the bus stand on a rickety horse drawn cart for more than four decades. He has ‘inherited’ this job (rather the curse, as he calls it) from his father and grandfather. It was way back in 1920 that the erstwhile Maharaja had entrusted the royal duty of carrying the mail bags to Nila’s grandfather, which was subsequently handed down to his son, his grandson and now his great grandson.
Come rain or shine, Nila is forced to make the mandatory five trips, two kms each way, from the post office to the bus stand for which he is paid Rs 90 per day. On the days he is absent, he has to pay the post office Rs 200 – the amount required for transporting the mail through cycle rickshaw. Here lies the crux of the problem – he is expected to survive on Rs 90 per day, (out of which Rs 60 goes towards maintaining his two horses, and besides there are other expenses) when the actual cost of transportation by today’s standards is at least Rs 200. It is not only a hand to mouth existence, but of a family being gradually buried under rising debts incurred to meet everyday expenses.
The film captures the varied impressions of people who have grown up seeing Nila at work. A sincere worker, he has not lost a single mail bag and is reliable to the dot. Post office authorities maintain that he should be given the job on humanitarian grounds. Residents of Jeypore feel that the horse drawn mail cart is a unique aspect of the town and should be continued for the heritage value. And some of course scorn him as a drunken fellow – little knowing that escaping to the drunken stupor is his only temporary solace from the miseries of daily existence. This is what the filmmaker has tried to capture – a man caught in the web of time gone by, and the small universe of a timeless unsung hero.
A short film of about 22 minutes, the story moves with simple narration in English, intercepted by interviews with Nila, his wife, the postal staff and general public. While some viewers may have reservations about the scene where Nila is shown drinking liquor, that is a fact of life for him – having taken to drinking at the young age of 12, when he was assisting his father with the mail cart.
The Last Post is a tribute to the silent workers of India Post. Here, one also gets a glimpse of postage stamps depicting the various means of transporting mail – through runners, ponies, motor vehicles, trains, ships and by aircrafts. The film won a silver medal at the INPEX held in Chennai in January 2008. Highly appreciated at the BYOFF (Bring your own film festival) held in Puri in February last, many viewers made financial contributions for Nila and his horse. But the most significant impact of the film is that the Ministry of Posts has now enhanced Nila’s daily allowance to Rs 150 per day. However, destiny had other plans. Nila could not live to see the film made on his life or receive the enhanced allowance – he died two weeks before the completion of the film, and the reigns of the cart have now passed to his son Padmanabh. Will Padmanabh have a better life than Nila or wilt under the pressures of the inherited burden?
