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Journalism of Courage
KOCHI, MAY 24: Babu Korah and family of Kottayam could not believe their eyes when they opened the parcel that had arrived by registered post from Delhi. It was a gift sent by their friend Narayanan on the occasion of the marriage of their daughter. It was tightly bound with cloth and sealed. Among the several gifts that they had received, this one was special as it had come so far away and that too from the Capital.
So with great care they cut open the parcel and peered at the content. For a moment they were befuddled as Korah pulled out a glossy magazine titled `Asia Pacific Tech Monitor’ which contained weighty articles on transfer of technology, pollution control and the like by Indian and foreign authors. High-tech transfer and pollution control were not issues about which they were bothered at the moment. Nor was the newly-wed couple technocrats to feel much enthusiastic about the global concerns.
Luckily, the parcel contained a letter from Narayanan saying that as he could not personally attend the marriage he was sending this gift. The hard cover in the parcel gave some indication. It carried the printed words `Sarita Poly silk Sarees’. But there was no saree within. Korah then understood what many others across the country are realising to their dismay — that there are thieves and pilferers in the Indian postal department waiting to pounce upon their goods and dismantle them most ingeniously.
However, this had not occurred to Narayanan when he bought the beautiful saree worth Rs 500 and sent it to Kottayam from the R K Puram post office. He was horrified to learn from Korah that what he received was a magazine and not the saree. He could only throw his hands in despair at the thought that all the pains and care he had taken to buy it and register it after standing in a long queue at the post office had ended in such a fiasco.
He had no proof that what he had sent indeed was a saree and there was no hope of any legal remedy. He could only curse the moment when he decided to entrust his gift with the postal department. He also could not trace the place where the theft had occurred as the parcel had traversed a long distance and pass through several hands.
But in this case it is certain that it is the handiwork of someone in Delhi because the magazine is a bimonthly journal of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology, a UN regional institution under the ESCAP in Delhi, and has only a limited circulation.
So the next time you decide to send a parcel through the postal department, think twice. There may be many surprises in store for you.
