The postman who trekked dense forests for 10 years to deliver letters

65-year-old D Sivan was no ordinary postman.

This bearded sexagenarian had to trek almost 15 km every day, braving wild animals and negotiating through the dense forests infested with snakes to deliver letters to inaccessible villages near Coonoor in the picturesque Nilgiris.

For 10 years, Sivan had to encounter elephants, bears, gaurs, and other wild animals in the line of his duty as he walked along the Nilgiris Mountain Railway track and treading railway bridges to reach inaccessible remote areas in the hilly areas of Coonoor.

Villagers of Vaduganthottam, Marapalam, K N R Nagar, Kurumpadi and Singara Estate would patiently wait for Sivan to arrive and deliver their mails— for many, he was a saviour as he delivered pension money for them.

Sivan was designated as a Gram Dak Sevak (mail deliverer) in 2010 after working as a stamp vendor at the Wellington post office in the Nilgiris for 25 years from September 17, 1985.

“I have seen everything from elephants to poisonous snakes to gaurs as I had to trek dense forests to reach villages to deliver letters. Many might ask how I managed, but the answer is simple. I never disturbed them (animals), and they never disturbed me. We managed to tread our own path. In fact, they became my friends,” Sivan laughs.

“And, I always greeted my friends before crossing their path. How can I enter their territory without wishing them Good Morning? I greeted them every single day,” Sivan tells DH over the phone.

After having negotiated dense forests for a decade, the 65-year-old postman finally hung his boots on March 7, 2020.

This almost forgotten hero has now got his rightful share of fame after a senior bureaucrat tweeted a picture of Sivan walking on a bridge in the Nilgiris with his bag and narrated his story of dedication and sincerity.

Soon, Sivan became a social media sensation with hundreds of people saluting his contributions to nation-building and some even demanding Padma Shri for the now-retired postman.

Telugu superstar K Chiranjeevi also praised Sivan’s sincerity in doing his job despite all adversities.

“Thanks to such great beings. Humanity thrives,” the superstar wrote on his Twitter page. On Tuesday, BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar sent a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Sivan as an appreciation of his “service to the nation.”

But, the newfound fame has not brought any change to Sivan, who is now happy that his hard work is being appreciated not just by people in Tamil Nadu, but the whole of India.

“My phone has not stopped ringing. I get so many calls every day. People talk about my dedication and sincerity while on duty. It feels good and I enjoyed the last 10 years of my service not just because it was challenging, but it was fulfilling, delivering letters to people in inaccessible areas,” Sivan says.

Sivan, who had a five-hour duty from 10 am to 3 pm during which he would walk at least 15 km to deliver letters, says he is enjoying his retirement life by sleeping for the most part of the day.

Reminiscing his days as a postman, the 65-year-old says he would collect the bag from the Coonoor post office and walk his way to the Hillgrove post office from where he would collect letters that need to be delivered.

“My first stop was the area near lower Singara Tea Estate after which I will walk my way negotiating dense forests to reach the first village Vaduganthottam. People in the villages know my timings and would wait for me. And then, I would deliver mails to three other villages before boarding a bus at Kurumpadi village to reach Coonoor,” Sivan says.

The retired postman has an interesting story to narrate on how he took his wife a couple of times along with him to deliver letters. And why did he do that?

“Mobile phones will go dead, the moment I enter the forests. And what if I had lost my life in an attack by an animal. So, I took my wife to show her my way so that she could have come and checked for me if I had not returned home the evening,” Sivan says.

And in 10 years of his service as a postman, Sivan did not take even a single leave.

“That is why I am sleeping so much now,” he laughs.

“If I take leave, who will go and deliver letters? No one wanted to take the risk of going into the wild. So, I never took leave,” Sivan says.