A post from the past
9th Oct. – World Post Day / Oct. 09 to 16 - National Postal Week

S Balakrishnan *

The 1910 postcard

“Eureka! Eureka!” I shouted in excitement. The maid who was sweeping the room immediately dropped the broom (almost on me) and rushed to my wife to report in an alarmed voice, “Your life is ruined but you are happily immersed in TV serial. Your husband is holding his lover’s letter and calling out her name ‘Eureka, Eureka’. Nip it in the bud, else you are ruined.”

My wife could not control her laughter and explained to her what ‘Eureka’ meant. The maid was visibly disappointed because she hoped it was a spicy story that she could spread in all the houses where she was working; now she had to chew an empty mouth.

“Well, don’t blame me I did not warn you”, the maid muttered. I was not in the bath tub like Archimedes but sitting in the revolving chair; so, out of excitement, I dangerously revolved in that chair with a broken wheel. Well, you might wonder what the excitement was all about.

A humble postcard from the past had caused all that excitement. It was written 113 years ago in 1910 when, I am sure, none of us existed! It is addressed to Maha Nee Nee ‘Muthu-k-Kutty Anni’, Rama Mada (Mutt) Street, Tiruthuraipoondi, Tanjore (Thanjavur) District (in the erstwhile Madras Presidency, then Madras Province, then Madras State and fjnally Tamil Nadu State).

By the by, what is Nee Nee? Google search engine gave the answer: Née (lit. "born") indicates a woman's family name at birth before adoption of another surname, usually after marriage. People then were scrupulously following the British style, it appears. More English than the English themselves! Tiruthuraipoondi now lies in Thiruvarur District after bifurcation of Thanjavur into four districts, with further demands for creation of more districts.

The addressor was Ramachandran, an acquaintance of the addressee. He was employed in the estate of Ramasamy Iyer of Thiruvidaimaruthur (also of the same Thanjavur District). He writes the letter from “Bambai (Bombay) House” (perhaps a lodge) in the Triplicane area of Madras (Chennai).

Posted in Chennai on 5th of May 1910, the postcard promptly reaches Muthu-k-Kutty Anni the very next morning (6th May) at 10.30 AM, covering a distance of 345 kms by train. Does India Post keep up this tradition of promptness now is questionable.

After enquiring about the welfare of the addressee and others, Ramachandran expresses his happiness at the favourable judgment of a property in litigation with Thambusamy Naicker. ‘It is all God’s deed, we have no role’, he philosophizes.

Then he comes to the main point – “When I was there, Murugaathai (another lady) requested for good Tamil books / magazines so that she could direct her mind in a good way. Accordingly, tomorrow I am sending you a copy of the Tamil monthly ‘Viveka Bodhini’; its annual subscription is 3 rupees. I will also write about other monthly magazines. Catalogue of books is also included in that”, Ramachandran concludes.

Viveka Bodhini, an illustrated Tamil monthly, started its publication in 1908 from Mylapore part of Madras city. It was mainly devoted to science, philosophy, morality, art & literature, history, biography & fiction, agriculture, industry, commerce and economics.

It claims to the only journal of its kind in India. Accuracy and originality form its specialty, with articles penned by the best of intellects. It had pages devoted to students and children as well. The general magazine was brought out by V. Kuppusamy Aiyar for about 25 years on behalf of The General Supplies Co., Madras.

Surprisingly, the postcard itself carries a two-line advertisement of Viveka Bhodhini. I am not sure if the magazine printed its own postcard and affixed stamp or it was a paid ad in the government postcard, because the emblem is also printed on the card. The postage for a postcard in 1910 was 3 pies.

Now about Murugaathai who wanted Tamil books/magazines to direct her mind in a good way - Murugaathai was born in Vilakkudi village, some 5 kms from Tiruthuraipoondi where Muthu-k-kutty Anni, a relative, was living. She also hails from the same Vilakkudi village but from a poor family.

Murugaathai was the only sister of seven brothers but, unfortunately, she was widowed at a very young age and spent some 70 years of her life thus! She was my maternal grandma’s paternal aunt; as my grandma’s mother died soon after the delivery, it was Murugaathai who took care of her, married her off and even attended to her deliveries. Naturally, my grandma was very much attached to her.

Murugaathai was very orthodox and devoted to Lord Krishnan. The year of this postcard (1910) has a significance – it was probably in 1910 that my grandma Krishnammal Anni was born, because she passed away in 2014, aged 103.

To find out who this Muthu-k-Kutty Anni was, we had to do some research. My mother, who is 91 years, was not able to recollect. So I posted this letter in a WhatsApp group but the result was disappointing. Then my mother got the details from an aunt of mine, Vasantha Rajagopalan; piecing together the bits and pieces, it was concluded that Muthu-k-kutty Anni must be the so and so relative lady.

A simple postcard written in 1910 has brought back so much of old memories of the bygone 113 years! I must have picked up this postcard from Murugaathai’s house during our summer visits in 1960s for my philatelic collection; but I never cared to read its contents until this day, and what a treasure it has revealed! Definitely the pen is mightier than computer and the various instant messaging Apps and social media.

Long Live the Post!