India bids goodbye to Registered Post: When India used pigeons to send mail

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Some of us can faintly recall writing one, maybe a postcard mailed on a holiday or a letter to a distant cousin. For Gen Z, licking a stamp and sealing an envelope may be something they’ve only seen in movies.

It’s 2025, a world ruled by WhatsApp messages and endless email threads, so it’s no surprise that the art, and even the need, for handwritten letters has quietly faded into nostalgia. Yet, there was a time when letters carried emotions across cities, when the wait for a postman was filled with anticipation.

But that era is sadly drawing to a close.

Earlier this week, India Post said it would merge the 50-year-old Registered Post service, once valued for its reliability, affordability, and legal weight among office-goers, with the faster and more modern Speed Post service.

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As the curtains slowly draw on one of the most iconic services of Indian postal history, it’s worth pausing for a moment to reflect on what we’re leaving behind and the rich legacy it has been carrying for centuries.

Pigeons, horses & more: A look at India’s ancient postal system

Long before the British set up a structured postal system, ancient India had its own creative ways of staying connected. Messages were sent through runners, horse riders, and even pigeons.

One of the earliest known postal systems can be traced back to the Mauryan Empire, during Emperor Chandragupta Maurya’s reign (circa 321–297 BCE). Historical accounts suggest messages were often sent through pigeons, who became a trusted network of communication across the vast empire.

Amazingly, this pigeon post system remained in use for centuries. In fact, in April 1948, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru used a pigeon to send a message from Sambalpur to Cuttack regarding arrangements for a public meeting. The service continued until as late as March 2008, when Odisha officially retired its last pigeon post.

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But pigeons weren’t the only messengers. India’s ancient postal network evolved significantly under the Delhi Sultanate. Around 1296, Alauddin Khilji introduced a structured system using a combination of relay runners and horses, according to records from India Post.

The Mughal emperor Akbar is credited with refining this further. He set up what was called a ‘dak chauki ‘— dak meaning ‘post’ and chauki referring to relay stations placed every 11 miles. Each station had runners or riders who would pass on state messages in a relay. You could even call it a very early version of express delivery.

The runners, known as meorahs, were celebrated for their astonishing endurance. According to 16th-century Portuguese writer Antoni de Montserrat, some were even believed to have had their liver removed in infancy to help them run long distances without getting breathless.

Interestingly, despite the scale and organisation, these early postal services weren’t meant for the public. They primarily carried official dispatches, used by kings, emperors, and administrators to maintain control over distant provinces.

The British Empire’s postal revolution

To consolidate its hold over the Indian subcontinent, the British East India Company did more than fight battles — it built systems of control. And at the heart of that control was communication.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Company developed its own postal system known as ‘Company Mail’ across its territories. The first regular postal service started in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1766 under Lord Clive, then Governor of Bengal. By 1774, the city had a General Post Office that charged two annas per 100 miles. Similar offices opened in Madras and Bombay in 1786.

Under Warren Hastings, who succeeded Clive as Governor-General of India, the postal setup in Bengal became more structured. A Postmaster-General was appointed, and postage charges were introduced for private letters. By 1789, the East India Company had a network of daks (postal runners)— or dauriyas — connecting administrative homes to key towns.

These dak runners, who often came from marginalised caste groups and ran for miles through forests and rivers to deliver letters, According to an Indian Express report citing a study Dak Roads, Dak Runners, and the Reordering of Communication Networks of historian Chitra Joshi, writes that these runners were not only “loyal but remarkably efficient”, navigating difficult terrain and even braving tigers, as noted in official records.

A major transformation came in 1854 under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, who introduced uniform postage rates and helped pass the India Post Office Act. This laid the foundation of India’s national postal service, officially launched on October 1, 1854.

By the early 20th century, India’s postal system had become a cornerstone of communication and efficiency. Before independence, there were around 23,000 post offices. But in the decades that followed, the network grew at an incredible pace, reaching nearly 1.5 lakh post offices by 1978.

Bollywood’s love affair with letters

As the postal system expanded, every town, village, and mohalla had its own postman, whose arrival was often awaited with the same anticipation as a festival. This emotional connection was also reflected in Indian pop culture.

Songs like “Dakiya Dak Laya” from the 1977 film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein romanticised the postman’s role in village life. Some were even as heart-wrenching as the one in Border (1997), where the postman delivers a letter to a soldier’s family, the very “chitthi” that confirmed his death.

The song “Sandese Aate Hain” from the same film became an anthem for longing and love, echoing the emotions of families waiting to hear from loved ones at the frontlines. “Chitthi Aayi Hai” from the film Naam (1986) also captured the ache of homesickness.

Even Irrfan Khan’s popular movie The Lunchbox (2013), rekindled that nostalgia of handwritten letters and missed connections.

Beyond cinema, philately, the collection of postal stamps, became a popular hobby in Indian households. India Post even capitalised on this with special edition stamps marking historic events, freedom fighters, festivals, and even cinematic milestones.

Old letters, new challenges

Today, India Post operates as a commercial arm of the Indian government, with over 160,000 post offices,  more than 130,000 of which are located in rural India. With a workforce of around 600,000, it is the country’s third-largest employer, after the armed forces and the railways.

Despite being one of India’s oldest institutions, the postal department is far from obsolete. As The Indian Express cited economist V Ranganathan from his Challenges in Reform of the Indian Postal Service, India Post continues to provide vital “last-mile connectivity” and access to basic services, especially in remote and underserved regions.

“India Post had been the earliest adopter of technology and infrastructure changes,” Ranganathan wrote. “During the British period, it used the train extensively when it was introduced; when the airplane was introduced, again it was the first.”

However, in recent decades, the service has been squeezed between rapid digitalisation and fierce competition from private logistics players. According to official data, the number of registered items dropped by nearly 25 per cent, from 244.4 million in 2011–12 to 184.6 million in 2019–20.

Yet, even in the face of declining volumes and changing habits, the iconic red postbox remains as a relic of a time when communication had heart, purpose and patience.

With input from agencies